Rei Cooper: Legacy of Thieves
by Karyra
Summary: When Rei Cooper is found at Happy Campers Orphanage, she must discover who her parents were, and the mystery of what happened before the orphanage. Meanwhile, Michel Fox chases her all over the globe. Second verse, same as the first.
1. Super Thief

Chapter 1

Thievius Raccoonus

Karyra: I had a dream with this idea, I can only pray that I don't butcher it.

Rei: Whoa! Where did I come from! You flipped a coin didn't you?

Karyra: Stop making sense! I own you and Michel.

Rei: You don't own anyone else though.

Karyra: Stop. Making. Sense!

**(Updated to** **my new evil plan.)**

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Ten Years ago

The rain was harsh upon the earth, like the heavens themselves were crying. Happy Campers Orphanage had been on the brink of closing down for a few weeks now, and the caretaker sat at her desk. The kindly old mouse wore an apron covering work jeans and a small T-shirt. She looked sadly at the meager amounts of money the orphanage had. The doorbell rang, a small buzz emanating through the small place. She sat up from the chair, her bones aching.

"Coming." She called out. She began her journey toward the door, wondering if it was like the movies where a child was placed in front of the door in a basket. However, when she opened the door, a small child no older than ten stood out in the rain, her small hand clinging to the cane with a hook on the tip. The cane was almost as tall as her.

"What's your name child?" The elderly woman asked.

"Rei Cooper." The child answered. The last name was familiar, but the woman couldn't place where.

"Where are your parents?"

"I don't know."

"Do you know where they are?"

"I can only remember my name ma'am." Her wide eyes betrayed that they _had_ seen her parents, but something tragic happened to them. Maybe the child would remember with time.

"Come inside from the rain, Rei. You'll catch your death out there."

"Do you know my mommy and daddy? Are they here?"

"No, but they might come soon." Rei nodded and came inside as she was told. However, her mother and father never came, and as the years slipped by, she tried to find out what happened, even who they were. The elderly mouse watched her grow, at first she tried to figure out what was so familiar about the young raccoon the grew up thinner than a stick, but she soon gave up, and watched her make two lifelong friends.

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Present day

Inspector Michel Fox with Interpol sat up from the dream he had a few minutes ago. The fox had a yellow brown jacket that was open, revealing a dark blue shirt with jeans that lead down to hiking boots. He shook his head detaching the papers clinging to his face. The office was small with a wall vault concealed behind some Picasso in one corner, and in the other papers were strewn about a window took up the wall opposite the door. Some papers said 'Rei Cooper'. The cork board held newspaper clippings of a shadowy figure and police arresting criminals. He stretched and grabbed one of the newspaper clippings.

"I'll catch you one of these days Rei Cooper, I promise you that." He muttered to it. The twenty year old was the youngest out of the academy. Ever since they slapped the file on his desk, he's been dogged in his pursuits. Little did he know that Rei Cooper was waiting out on the balcony.

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

(Rei's POV)

"Are you ready to blow up the fountain, and make the cars in the parking lots sing la bamba?" I asked into my comm.

"All set, but-" Bryce said on the other end, or the twitchy little mouse in overalls and a bandana over his head who was in the parking lot. He could make a working plane using paper, and rewire car horns to play la bamba, but he's not the action kind of guy. That would be Murph; the lovable lion who is the only one of all of us who can drive stick shift.

"You shouldn't worry so much. I mean, it not like I'm busting into a police station without a plan." I said to Bryce. "Also, it's my face on the security cameras, why are you worried?"

"Just get that file, before I die from sarcasm."

"Fine, over and out." I said, as I braced for the bombs to reveal themselves. Sure enough, the small explosion drew Inspector Fox out of his office. In fact, it was personal record for me to draw him out as fast as I did. I closed the small screen displaying his office, and strapped into my bungee gear. I placed suction cups on the tips of my boots. The black skin tight suit I usually wore came down to the top of my boots, the middle of my thigh, and the sleeves ended at the elbows with a belt in the middle and a bag strapped to my right thigh. Emblazoned on the chest, was a cartoon raccoon face. The main part was shaped like a football split in two, with two triangles coming off just above the eyes, which were near the line dividing the two halves. I shifted my floppy hat, which could explode on command, and adjusted my mask. In reality, everyone already knew my name, the mask just makes it fun to be a thief.

I let myself fall to the fifth floor of the building before stopping myself with the suction cups. I reached into my bag, and pulled out a glass cutter, I made it revolve around the center once, and removed the small circle of glass from the pane. The hand sized hole was positioned over the lock, so I reached in and unlocked it. Sliding the window open, I made sure to order his papers in such a way that he could never find them when he needed to. The Picasso imitation in the corner made me laugh at his attempts to hide the evidence from me. I had learned that Inspector Fox had found a book, in which held the instructions for becoming a master thief. No other thief would dare to even break into Interpol, so it was like a rite of passage for me.

I pulled the painting down exposing the safe behind it.

"_Not a painting combo, you have got to be kidding me."_

I pulled out a magnifying glass.

"_I don't know why I packed it, but thank you God."_

"Hurry, they've stopped the car alarms."Bryce said over the comm.

"Stall, it's a painting safe, you know how bad I am those." I responded.

"Hurry, then. I'm going to drop a Sheldon."

"Bryce!" I said, astonished. He'd never play the "nerd who's so annoying you hate, but can't get rid of" card. Too late, I could heard it over the comm.

"Sir," The police officer started to say.

"_That poor police officer."_

"My car just played la bamba, are you sure that it'll be all right? I had some valuables inside, could you help me check for them." I had the combination, I had to spare the poor guy from inevitable geeking.

"Sure, what kind of valuables?" The cop answered.

"_First number is in..."_

"My model ocarina from ocarina of time. It was made from-".

"_Second number..."_

"Sir, that is not a valu-"

"_Third in."_

"YOU SHOULD CARE SIR! It an original model..." I had it open, the book in my hands, it was lighter than I thought it would be, but I didn't have time. "...that was in mint condition!"

"The box is in the coffee cup." I said over the comm. I heard a click, Inspector Fox!

"_That guy must be a master at organizing people. That or walking _really_ fast."_

I placed a paper version of the thing I wore on my chest inside the safe and began to run out. I slipped between the gap in the closing window and the window.

"I'm out Murph, ready the getaway van." With that I pressed a button on my suit, on the left shoulder, opening a parachute to slow my descent. I turned my feet to land on my feet. Ready for a running start when I hit the ground, I heard the unmistakable sound of a charging shock pistol.

"_He's fixed the whining, it's much less obvious, but not by much."_

I pressed the button again and the parachute wound up back into the bag. I pulled out my cane, ready to use it. I pressed a button on the side, which made it elongate to half my size. The golden crook on the top was a half circle, but at the top, it went down in a straight line. It was the only other thing I could remember from that night when I had been found at the door of Happy Campers Orphanage. I could only remember fire, screaming, a flash of metal, and the door. The zap from being near where the inspector shot jolted me back to reality.

"You kind of suck at aiming." I said as I slung the cane over my back.

"That was a warning shot Rei, surrender or I'll use this." Michel said.

"I don't _feel_ like it today, I want some decent food, Chinese take-out maybe?"

"I hear jail has some decent food."

"Nah, I hear the food is actually made by children, I don't want to break any more child labor laws." I reached inside my bag again.

"_I must have a never ending bag... I must thank Bryce later."_

"No, I hear the prisoners make it themselves." I pulled out three small pellets.

"No wonder it's so lousy." I threw the pellets to the ground, causing the gas inside to release; hiding me from the inspector. I ran out of the narrow alleyway, turning on my heel. "MURPH, I NEED THAT GETAWAY VEHICLE..." I yelled over my comm. Hey, when your cover's blown, you should _most definitely_ yell at your team to wake them up.

"_Maybe I should write a book on how to steal from Interpol, it's not hard."_

Another zap told me to stop worrying about books, and start to avoid being shot by the Inspector.

"_Murph you had better get the van running..."_

The rev from behind me made itself known by making Michel avoid it by leaping out of the way.

"Watch where you're going you-!" Michel began yelling before he saw me climb inside the van. I gave a mock salute before closing the doors behind me. We zigzagged through the city of Paris before heading for the hideout. It was an old apartment which nobody ever bothered to check for vagrants. As I flung open the door I cried:

"Honey, I'm ho-ome!" I pulled out the Thievius Racconus, ready to read about how to become a master thief. I then realized there were only ten pages in the thick backed book.

"_Funny, with a cover like this you'd think there were more pages than ten."_

I leafed through the pages.

"_Ninja spire jump, rail walk, rail slide? Wait. There's different writing on this one."_

The cursive blue handwriting was much newer than the other nine entries.

_Dear Rei,_

_This book is yours now, if I am standing over you, watching as you look through the numerous pages, I want to stress that we _only_ steal from criminals, regular people just aren't as fun. However, if I am not, be aware, Clockwork, or Clock-la is back.I don't know how he came back, but enclosed is a pair of criminals who could help you, I don't know their current location for sure, but tell him that Sly said hello._

There was an address, and a couple names; Bentley and Penelope.

_I can only hope that you find out what happened, and try to stop Clockwork/Clock-la._

_I love you honey. Tell _(the name was written, then scratched out.) _that everything's okay._

_Love,_

_Sly Cooper,_

_Dad_

My mind was reeling. Clockwork? Clock-la?

"_What are you trying to say Dad?"_

I read through the other entries, looking for some clue about Clockwork, Clock-la, or even my Dad. There wasn't any. I had worked late into the night, and nobody bothered me about it.

"_I need to clear my head."_

I grabbed my bag, cane, and hat -I had taken it off earlier-, and left. I found a wire suspended above the street and practiced my rail walk. It would require the spire jump -a jump with a spin to help point your toes- and balance. After performing the spire jump, and not landing on the ground below as a splat, I put one foot in front of the other, gently walking across the wire. An alarm rang out urging me to stop the criminals.

I may not have super powers, but anyone could see that the police were inept at catching them themselves. So I swooped down landing on the speeding car, and proceeded to smash out the windshield. They couldn't see so they panicked and pulled over to the side. They left the car; gun in hand, I went on to smack both of them about the head with my cane. I tied them up, left my signature raccoon face, and left. The sirens and yells for a lawyer resounded around the area. I smiled, a job well done.

There was someone up on the roof next door, he was too well concealed to see who was watching, but I tried to sneak over to where he was. He laughed.

"I would have put in a quip or two." He said as he vanished from sight.

"Wait, who are you?" I yelled down below. He had escaped anyway. "Damn." I muttered under my breath.

"_What a weirdo."_

I ran and jumped across buildings on the way to the safe house, focusing only on the muscles doing what they did best. I tried out new techniques I learned from the Thievius Raccoonus, but there weren't many and I was halfway to the safe house before finding the address I was going to tomorrow. It was a beat down house with boarded up windows. It looked like it had been abandoned for a long time.

_"Maybe I can get a clue of the old owner's whereabouts."_

I landed on the roof before going in. Going in the roof is much better than going in the front door, anyway. Pulling out my cane again, I hooked onto the side going hand over hand down. I lowered myself to the nearest boarded up window. I tried to pry away the ancient boards. Failing to do so made me smash my foot against them.

"_Wow, that was subtle."_

That was the thing, I could get mad very easily. Bryce told me to get anger management classes, but what would I do? Walk in and say, 'Hey there, I'm the worldly infamous -at least I think so- thief Rei Cooper.' ….No...

"_Crunch. Crack."_

Wait, when I smashed the boards that was the Crunch. What was the Crack?

"_Oh damn it."_

The boards were tougher than I had originally thought. I had potentially broken my foot. I don't have X-ray vision, so I couldn't be sure. Dangling from a building, not being able to walk into a hospital, and being several miles away from the safe house.

"_I guess I really do need anger management lessons."_

The window sat exposed.

"_I broke my foot, must be worth investigation. Also, I _do_ have a cane. It's not like I can't use it like that for once._

I hopped inside, cursed several times about my foot, and hobbled to the other side of the room.

"I just _had_ to break my left foot." I muttered darkly.

"_Dad must be _so_ proud. I'm swearing like a sailor."_

The only light coming in had been from the window. I was not surprised to stub my toe in the dark, but I did cuss a lot more than I had coming across the room.

"Young lady, I will not tolerate that kind of langauge in my house." Said a thin reedy voice coming from the darkened door way. It was too dark to see who exactly said this, but in the next moment I heard a dart come across the room. A small pinprick told me that it found it's mark in my shoulder.

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Karyra: Yay!

*Michel pouts in corner as a small party goes on*

Karyra: Come party! The launch of our new story is up!

Michel: …

Karyra: Here, listen to pandora for awhile.

*Karyra stuffs earbuds in his ears*

Michel: ):

Rei: He's such a downer.

Karyra: He's your-

*Karyra sticks her head inside a bucket of ice water*

Rei: Why'd she do that?

Michel: I don't know.

Karyra: KITTY!

Rei: No one here is a cat...

Karyra: TURTLE!

Michel: No turtles either.

Karyra: FOXES!

Rei: There's only one here. You scare me.


	2. Bentley

Chapter 2

Bentley and Penelope

Karyra: Okay, don't be mad, but it takes some time people, geez. XD I write as fast (and nicely) as I can.

Rei: Not for these you do.

Karyra: What, these skits? Oh, yeah I don't really think about them, but I think-

Michel: Just start it already.

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Dreams can be lucid, but when you've been put under by some random guy who didn't like you swearing at you foot, they can become seriously strange. The first part was reasonably normal, it had been, no wait, that was when I had been dart gunned. In this one in particular, I had been arrested, but had been in an engaging conversation with Inspector Fox.

"What I'm saying is, Ozzy has some seriously strange music." I said.

"Yes, but death metal is stranger." Michel replied. From there, well...

"Sir, the helicopter has turned into a giant monkey." Said the pilot.

"The helicopter has turned into a what-now?" I asked.

"Reroute power to the main appendix!" Michel replied.

"Reroute what to the what now?" It was like I wasn't even there.

"Shoot, it's not working." The pilot said. My brain has never been too complicated.

"YOU SAID SHOOT!" Inspector Fox yelled. He pulled out his shock pistol, and I could hear it charging. Expecting this, I had jumped out the giant monkey's mouth. As I fell my thoughts came in random bursts.

"_Long fall is long."_

The wind whistled by.

"_Oh my gosh, did I really just think that?"_

Then it occurred to me, _I had a parachute._ I pressed the button, and the chute popped out.

"_Thank you brain for letting this work."_

I landed in a burning field. I pressed the button again winding it up like usual. I walked across the field grateful for the landing place, except when the ten year old version of me sat at the edge of a burning building.

"What cha' doing out here?" I asked.

"Where's Mommy? Daddy said that he'd find her." The younger version of me asked.

"I don't know, maybe-" I had stopped, the other me's hand was bleeding.

"Maybe I killed them." The younger me turned and what I saw, I couldn't tell you. I woke up at that point. Breathing hard I saw a windowless concrete bunker.

Still gasping from the dream, I didn't gather that on the opposite side of the room was a scrapbook. Cold sweat drenched my face. I had seen something terrible, but _what was it?_ I sat on the bench trying to figure out my surroundings. I had been chained to the bench, both hands behind my back, and someone had bandaged my foot. However, I preoccupied by the sudden realization of the scrapbook.

I pulled forward, temporally forgetting the chains. I say temporally because I heard the soft clink of chains.

"_Trapped."_

This is the point where I would normally pull out a lock pick, but I have the attention span of a cocker spaniel. I was too preoccupied with my thoughts about my parents to bring one. I had also broken rule number one of the friend code: Never go anywhere without telling someone else. Okay, maybe that's more of a 'just in case' thing.

I sat there on the bench thinking through the message Dad left me.

"_Tell them Sly says 'hello'."_ Maybe... well it couldn't hurt could it?

"Sly says hello." I said. Almost instantly feeling stupid.

"_Just had to say that when nobody's in the room didn't ya?"_

Silence followed my little outburst, I hadn't figured it would work, but under the circumstances...

"_Launch into self pity later, escape now."_

That's when the door, I hadn't noticed it because it was a slab of concrete that would slide open when a button was pressed on the other side, opened. A turtle in a wheelchair rolled out. He was in his fifties, but I was wary, I didn't want a repeat performance of... well, I don't know when, people do not generally provide clocks in concrete bunkers.

"How do you know Sly?" He said, speaking slowly.

"I-I..." I wasn't sure, would he believe me if I said he was my Father? Did it matter? His face lit up, almost like he had realized something that he should've a few days ago.

"You look like your Father." He said, beaming. I breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Can I get out of these chains? I need to comm in." I asked.

"Sure, but stay here." Clearly, he didn't trust me. Then again, I _did_ break into his house, swear profusely -I'm not so proud of that part-, and claim to know Sly. The chains were unlocked and I moved to the other side of the room. Putting my hand in my ear, I attempted a one sided fake conversation.

"I'm in a house-" I started to say before the wheelchair guy broke in.

"This is a _concrete_ bunker."

"I knew that..." I replied, instantly feeling stupid.

"I also have you communicator."

"I knew that too..." Instead of getting mad he just laughed.

"_My captor is insane."_

He began to leave, and I followed as fast as I could without going ahead of him. He led me to an empty room. It had a very high ceiling, and switches along the side that had long since rusted. After looking around the room I noticed that the wheelchair guy had left, locking the door behind him.

Large tied up boxes fell from the ceiling, landing where my foot had been a moment before I snatched it away. A robot came from the side of the room. I wielded a large and very deadly gun.

"This is where I leave." I said before trying to pull open the door. I pushed with all my might but being the hundred pound weakling that I am, I didn't push it open. "Sure, lock me inside a room with a deadly robot!" I pushed harder.

"_Wait. Can it jump?"_

I looked warily at the encroaching robot. It was on wheels, and probably couldn't jump. I ran to the nearest tied up box, jumped onto it, and promptly looked over the side, figuring that I could keep an eye on the robot. I was trying to find something in my pocket that I could use to escape. The only thing inside my bag was my cane.

"_Lovely, my bag full of stuff is empty. There goes my bag of tricks. But I still have my hat..."_

"What's this?" I said. "What's inside of my hat?" I stood up and threw it at the robot. I clicked a button. "Oh yeah. C4." It promptly exploded in the robot's face. However, I only had one hat, so it wouldn't work again. You know, since it was now itty bitty pieces. I clicked to button again, elongating my cane once more.

"_My head feels naked without my hat."_

You know, adrenaline is amazing because the entire time I forgot about my foot. Then it blossomed into pain.

I sat there silently cursing my bad luck, when the door clicked open. I progressed toward it carefully.

"This way." A disembodied voice. Wow. I've definitely gone loco. I don't know what possessed me to follow it, but I did. An empty wall stood in front of me.

"_Yup. I'm insane."_

However, after thinking this, I noticed the open vent that was within grabbing distance. I jumped up into it, desperate for any kind of escape. I crawled through the vent, noting the gear on the table below as I passed it. After debating inwardly, the urge to leave was very strong, I went to grab my gear. Slipping through the other tiny exit and entrance for the ventilation shaft, I eased my way into an old office. Dust coated the walls, and a large vault took up most of the room.

I grabbed my gear and prepared to leave, but I turned around as I grabbed the lip of the vent. I resisted as best I could, but when you're a thief... vaults kind of, whisper to you. I dusted off some of the face to find the dial, only to see my cartoon raccoon face looking at me.

"_Hey! I own the rights to that!"_

In another, wonderfully liberating, fit of anger to punched the door until my knuckles bled.

"_I need to calm down and escape before-"_

"Get out of that room!" Yeah, loudspeakers and cameras in his own home... A little paranoid maybe?

I ran back out of the room, the ventilation shafts closing.

"_Nice job, you are going to be shot with darts. _Again_."_

I crawled a little faster at this thought. As fun as giant monkeys and appendixes are, I think I'll go to sleep like a normal person. I crawled out into the room where I had gotten in.

"_Hey look, someone out there _must _be looking out for me."_

I climbed out the window I had smashed open, daylight streaming through it, and flat out ran for the safe house. Freaked beyond reason by the hell house I had just escaped from. I paused in my frantic run to check for bugs. Yes, I don't trust the guy who stole my stuff, locked me in a room with a robotic gun, and tried to keep me there. Go figure.

When it was all clear, I ran to the run down shack where I spend the nights robbing criminals, playing video games, and sleeping. It was also where all this began. I walked through the door. I locked it behind me, and walked to the couch.

I was beyond tired. I collapsed onto the couch and slept through the entire rest of the day.

Allow me to tell you what woke me up the next day.

"REI! YOU'RE BACK!" Bryce screamed as I was being bear hugged by Murph.

"I... can't... breathe..." I squeaked out. Ever grateful for the release of the hug that possibly broke a few ribs. The swelling in my foot had decreased and the pain was gone, well, that's what Bryce said anyway. Along with several words I can't even spell.

"So what's the verdict? Will I ever be able to play my violin again?" I said, a little overly dramatic.

"You'll be fine, but I'm just suggesting that you don't wander off again." Bryce recommended in an indian accent.

"Deal Dr. Bryce." I smiled, it's the little things that make scrapbooks and memories I guess.

"Hey anyone up for a little con?" Murph said from his corner. Usually, we either fly or temporary-borrow a car. There wasn't much need for him to nag us about the car we didn't need to lug around, but he looked in magazines anyway.

"Sure? What is it?" I asked.

"We could steal a car for keeps, I noticed it in the garage next to our safe house, it's going to be scrapped anyway... So maybe we could have it." The big guy was ready for some action, and I couldn't blame him, it had been about three days since the whole Bentley affair. We had stayed in, played video games, and everyone had felt the need for a new con.

"Sure, I'm going stir crazy anyway, or is that a bad thing, Bryce?" I joked at Bryce.

"No, your foot healed all the way. But it needs foot needs to rest some more." He smiled, and we all burst into laughter.

Allow me to progress forward a little to when the con was ready, and we were getting in disguises. I was wearing a pair of fuzzy boots, a v-neck t-shirt, and some shorts. I left off my hat, and kept the mask hidden under a pair of horn rimmed glasses, and walked out of my room. Bryce was wearing a mechanic outfit with overalls over his yellow shirt. Murph was wearing some dark colors, because he's kind of shy, and people notice when a giant lion is stealing a car.

When I exited my room, Bryce stammered a little, and he blushed some. I should probably tell you that I'm a hardcore tomboy, who wears practical stuff, and even wearing this outfit made me feel out of place.

"Y-you look nice." Bryce stammered out.

"Can we get on with this? I'd like to get out of these poofy boots soon." I asked, angry at being a ditz for the op.

The walk to the garage was long, but we didn't dare steal a car, lest we be discovered with a stolen vehicle. The first day of preparation for the con Bryce had secured a job at the unlucky garage, the second was mostly to bond with his other workers, and today... we would steal from it, like candy from a two month old baby.

"Any hints before we take the car?" I asked.

"Don't get blown up, killed, or caught."Bryce replied, he still wasn't looking at me. The long walk made me wonder about how I should go about finding the rest of the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus. I still didn't look at the letter in the back, but I felt like I had to fix it. Like it was my birthright. Before I could come up with a witty comeback to Bryce's snide comment, we had arrived.

Bryce clocked in at six a.m. and I was to stay outside until the signal, a misfire from a car across the street timed perfectly by Murph, I hid inside and old abandoned house. I had picked this spot because I had no intention of looking like a streetwalker.

I had been spinning two tops at the same time when the signal went off. I got up, ready to go steal a van. The first part was easy, walk in and distract the lobby person. Then Bryce would knock out one of the other mechanics, luckily Murph had picked an _old _ garage that had two mechanics and a lobby person. I held my hand to my head, like I had a major hangover, and walked unsteadily to the garage.

"Excuse me, I have to get to my house." I said to the poor old lizard at the counter.

"Okay, where do you live?" He replied. I risked a glance at the back. The other mechanic had already been darted with a sleep dart, and Bryce was stealing the keys.

"Umm..." I said in my most airy way I could. The keys were ours, but now came the hard part. I suddenly clutched at my heart, falling to the ground. A false heart attack. Would he fall for it?

The answer to that was yes, he was bending over trying to find his phone. Sadly, I had beaten the phone to pieces the day before. I slipped around the counter, where the lobby person was still focused on finding his it wrong to take such glee in the destruction of small objects and to hti people with big sticks?

I pulled out my cane, and whacked him across the head with it. To be honest, I almost felt bad for him, getting beaten up by a girl.

"Bryce, it's done." I peeked into the main garage, noticing that the car was ready.

"Yeah, I know, slowpoke." Bryce said from behind the wheel. I slipped in next him, the stick already in reverse.

"Let's blow this popsicle stand."

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Karyra: :D another chapter done!

Rei: Yay!

Michel: I'm not in this chapter! D:

Karyra: This is Rei's story, I suppose you can catch up with her in-

*Rei clamps hand over Karyra's mouth*

Rei: No spoilers!


	3. Room of Glass

Chapter 3

Mesa City, Nevada

Karyra: Another chapter! Enjoy! Remember that I don't own Muggshot Senior, Sly Cooper, or Carmelita Fox. Also, when Muggshot Sr. speaks, that's his accent. I can spell. However, touch anyone not listed on my owned list, and I will eat your eyeballs.

Rei: I'm sincerely concerned now...

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Road trips suck. Over the past week-yes _week_ because if I told you _every second_ of my life you'd be bored- Murph had painted the van a pale lavender, but I told him we we _never _going around in that color van. So, in the middle of the night, Bryce and I repainted the van a pleasant black, but to appease Murph, we left the flames around the wheels.

So here I am sitting in the back, wondering about my Father.

"Hey Bryce?" I asked. I had chosen the back, Bryce had shotgun.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"Have you ever tried to find your parents?"

"Yes." It was short. Tense.

"Who were they?" I felt like I had gotten this far, maybe if I found out more, then no surprises. I also suck at signs of when to stop.

"A sixteen year old woman who had issues with her life." Bryce clammed up then, all out of information. Which was a first. I looked away, ashamed of taking the information.

"My parents died in a car accident, their names were Ralph and Alexia Pauldine." Murph said, his voice was heavy. I looked up.

"I-I'm sorry for bringing it up." Is it possible to feel worse? The answer to that is yes.

"Did you ever find out who your parents were Rei?" Murph asked. I think I paled, I didn't know because I don't carry a mirror.

"You know the book from Interpol?" I said, ready to relieve the pressure weighing heavily on my shoulders.

"_Little bits of information right now Rei."_

"Yeah." The two said in unison.

"Well, there was a message in it..." I drew my foot in a slow circle. "For me. It was from my father." There was silence. Nobody dared to speak, it would seem shallow and superficial. In the silence I read up on our target: Muggshot Junior.

We had picked him because his father was Muggshot _Senior_, a past holder of the Thievius Raccoonus, one of the Fiendish Five, and big time gang leader. He had a son who was intelligent beyond belief. At least according to the _other_ Inspector Fox. A few days earlier, we had discovered Inspector Carmelita Fox, who we assume is the Mother of _our_ Inspector Michel Fox. She had written reports on Muggshot, because she had arrested him twice. She had also chased my Father, Sly Cooper.

I should get back to Muggshot Junior anyway, his Father never really approved of him growing up weak and puny, so everyday he would take him out to lift trains. The duo now reside in Muggshot Senior's old hideout. Mesa City, Nevada. I usually hang out in some city in Paris that you've never heard of, but I always enjoy going back to America, the sights, sounds, and the open 24 hour fast food stores... America has so much, well, culture I guess. We had just gotten off the plane to America when we started to drive there. Closest flight we could get was in some state that had Yellowstone in it.

I put down the file that I had stolen from Inspector M. Fox, and grabbed the pillow and blanket I picked out for the trip. I stretched out on the floor in the back and listened to the motor rev and the wheels turn. Nobody had spoken yet.

I slept through the ride, to a sudden awakening.

"Rei, we're here." Bryce said, he had also slept through the trip. I stretched a little more before shrugging off my blankets. When I leaned in to see what this boomtown looked like, I was surprised to find it empty.

I had read that this place was a big boomtown like Las Vegas, so what happened? Bryce wasn't too concerned about the old boomtown as I was. He simply straightened his glasses and went back to typing on his computer.

"We should probably be concerned that the big booming city isn't so... well, booming." I said as I nudged him gently.

"Huh? Oh yeah we should..." He said suddenly, knocking his just straightened glasses askew. I opened the back door, and leapt out to breach the walls. I went out to find that the gate was at least ten years old and beginning to rust. It was made to look like it was in front of a bunch of cards.

"_Wow. Cheesy."_

I grasped at the edges, using the tips of my fingers, in front of the cards and arced my legs skyward. I attained enough momentum beforehand to flip my legs over my head and have my toes reach over the cards. I swung around so that I was now facing the gate, and let go of the edge. My toes held my weight and I placed my cane so that I could just climb up it. I climbed hand by hand up my cane, until it had let me pull away from the gate, lest I seriously injure myself _again_, and placed my feet on the top of the gate.

"You done showing off to the birds?" I heard Bryce say.

"Hey, you try getting up a gate that's locked." I replied.

"Well, you know, we are waiting out here, waiting for you to let us in, and you are showing off."

"Calm down, I'm getting to that." I said as I landed on the other side.

I searched around the gate, but failed to find the switch that would bring the van inside.

"Okay, maybe I'm not..." I muttered.

"_Where would a brain child hide a switch?"_

I had never been even close to a brain child, let alone manage to scrape by. Bryce would look over my homework, and would correct it, if I really needed it. Which was most of the time. Yes, I attended school for the better part of my life.

"I'm going inside, I can't find the switch here." I told Bryce over my comm.

"Don't break your foot again." Bryce replied over the comm.

"_Like I needed reminding..."_

I walked calmly to the edge of the pavement. The sheer amount of destruction to the road was amazing. It looked like a giant had sat on it, and found it uncomfortable. I supposed that the superficial damage was nothing compared to the damage that the sewage and major water lines suffered. To be clear, I am not pitying them. I analyze situations and find ways to make them work to my advantage. Such as using the open sewer system to gain entry to the remainder of the city.

Right now, I knew that going in through the main gate would be stupid. No, _insane_. Their security system is the best in the entire world, cameras with infrared, motion detectors, fingerprint scanners, card scanners, retinal scanners, and thugs patrolling every second of every day. Although the sewer system may not be overlooked, it was still better than the front gate.

My crawl through the sewers was not glamorous, I encountered three dead mice, a group of salmon spawning, and an alligator, yes an alligator. The sucker was at least ten feet wide and jaws as huge as myself. I had just missed passing it when I was 'requested' by Bryce to take a shot of the gator.

I pulled out my camera from my bag, it seriously never ends, and snapped a quick photo of the thing.

"What good are recon photos to you? You can't see them." I asked Bryce.

"On the contrary, your digi-cam sends them to me electronically, enabling me to view them almost as fast as you shoot them." Bryce replied. Good ol' I-can't-understand-most-of-your-vocabulary Bryce.

"Oh, did you pack loop feeds into my bag?"

"Yup, you thought that I would forget a major cornerstone of our plan?" Bryce said, scandalized.

"Remember last time when you-"

"Don't bring _that _up again." I would throw my hands up, but I think the alligator had found me and was watching me. So I left as quickly as I could.

The trek trough the sewer was long and... well disgusting. Every step was punctuated with a squish or slosh. At last I reached a manhole that could take me to the top, provided that no guards saw me. I pushed the metal lid slowly to the left, so that I could see anyone up above. No guards, in fact, I had overshot by a few feet. It was good enough. I pushed the rest of the manhole away, pulling myself out of the hole, and I saw a huge mansion that looked very much like a giant fire hydrant.

"_Why don't people notice this?"_

There was no visible entrance, but we had predicted this. I prepped my climbing gear, and began to climb up the giant fire hydrant. I brushed past a few windows, not bothering to listen in. I was determined to find that fragment of the Thievius Raccoonus. Each plink of the cane hooking on something and my death grip on the side of the enormous hydrant were the only things I was focusing on.

I finally reached the top where my prize lay. I was tired, I smelled like something had died, and I _really_ wanted to hit something. However, it was not in the plan, if I diverted from the plan I would probably die. I had never adhered to plans and usually it ended badly. I didn't want a repeat today, it was to be how I wanted it to end, with me holding another piece of the Thievius Raccoonus, and the Muggshot duo would be carted off to jail.

It was all coming together perfectly. I climbed to the left of a window, and leaned over to see if it was being patrolled. It was clear. I pulled out the glass cutter from the Interpol break in, and 'opened' a hole in the window. I unlocked it and was inside within one minute. I pulled the curtains closed and concealed the hole in the window from view. My hands were shaking, I knew I was so close...

"_Not yet. Only half way there."_

I softly snuck along the empty corridors, and felt like I knew that I should run. I swallowed my instincts. I knew better than to run from a con. It was like this for all big ops. I would get this feeling like in some other universe I wouldn't do this.

My argument to that would be that I would also be with my parents. I came face to face with a set of stairs. They were made of marble and led to a face of a giant bulldog with a mustache and unibrow. He was also smoking a cigar.

"_Doesn't he know that they kill, nobody thought that was cool since the nineties..."_

I pressed onward even farther. I rapped on the large chin three times. Metal, and maybe hollow. I smiled at his stupidity, did he really think this through?

"Rei Cooper, you are under arrest!"

"_Can't it wait?"_

I rolled my eyes and complied.

"Hi Michel. Can't you like, come back later? Kind of busy here." I told him.

"Yeah busy reliving these people of their possessions!"

"All right, maybe one..." I said, thinking of the Thievius Raccoonus.

"Now get down on the ground." Michel said, his eyes narrowing.

"Hey, don't I have the right to face my accuser?"

His face contorted, clearly conflicting with the urge to take me in, but also to follow the law.

"Fine, but I want to know that this is a one time deal, that law applies to court only." He said finally.

"_History class, I'm so sorry about lighting you on fire right now..."_

If you are asking why I lit it on fire, you are going to have to wait for that story to come out with my obituary. I'm _not _telling you.

He walked up to the giant -very ugly- face and pressed a button. He had clearly been here before. The jaw of the door dropped down, revealing exactly as I had thought. An elevator, and a little more than thirty years old too. It also smelled like crayons.

"Don't pull anything. I'm watching you." He pushed me inside, I was standing in front of him.

"Like stabbing you in this elevator. This elevator is really big, like it's industrial strength. Who lives here anyway?"

Silence. I rolled my eyes.

"_Cops."_

There was a large room, crystals reflected off the walls and mirrors bounced the light around even more. It was like I was standing inside a mirror. This guy had good taste. I saw Michel still had his shock pistol aimed between my shoulders.

"_Smart move."_

At the end of the room a was two large thrones, a table, and a chair. The empty one was easily the largest. The other one was smaller by a fair bit, and sitting in the second throne, was the single most ugly man I had ever seen. His face was the elevator, and it was also Muggshot Senior. This guy looked even scarier in person. His arm muscles were thicker than I was wide and about as tall as myself. Two neglected legs sat between the behemoth arms.

In spite of myself I couldn't help but gasp.

"_This guy fought my father once upon a time, and my father won."_

That thought made me admire my father a little. I had to wonder who else he had fought, but I should live in the now. The 'now' in question involved a big muscular guy who was planning on sending me to jail. Always fun.

"Ehh? You here for the Thingus Racamagoogus?" He said, squinting at me. "You look like your fada." The accent made it hard to hear or understand easily, but I managed to. "She's fine."

"_Oh, that's not good..."_

A little confused, Michel left the room.

"Father, did you rid us of our unwanted guest yet?" There's Muggshot Jr, oh this'll be fun...

"_Mental note: I shouldn't get busted in the near future..."_

"Yeah, hey it's one o' dem Coopah punks." Muggshot Sr. told his son.

"Those Cooper 'punks' don't exist father, don't you remember that C-" He was cut short when he entered the room. He was very clean cut, unlike his father he didn't have a unibrow or mustache. He had his hair slicked back and looked no older than fourteen.

"_Child prodigy, I stand before it."_

To tell the truth nobody had ever seen this kid, much less lived to tell the tale. If I had a collar on my suit, I would be pulling at it and gulping.

"_Stick to the plan..."_

What? You thought there wasn't a plan?

"_Ten... nine... eight... seven..."_

I folded my arms, to hide the fact that I was shaking all over.

"So, you are part of this family that put my father in jail twice?" Junior said.

I picked the only chair in the room and sat in it.

"_Six... five..._

I crossed my legs.

"_Four... Three... Two..."_

"Yup, but I didn't think that he would be _this _stupid." I replied. "He can't even pronounce Thievius Racconus, much less understand that he shouldn't take things that aren't his."

"_ONE!"_

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Karyra: Oohh! Evil cliffe!

Rei: What am I going to do?

Karyra: Tune in next time.

Rei & Michel: We are not a sunday Special!

Karyra: Funny, because I posted this on sunday.


	4. Escape

Chapter 4

I Solemnly Swear That I'm Up To No Good

*Karyra walks in looking tired*

Rei: Why do you look so tired?

Karyra: I was up until midnight planning this chapter.

*Shows drawing of circles connected to other circles*

Rei: You should... just start the disclaimer.

Karyra: Okay, Sly & Muggshot Sr. They aren't mine. Rei, Michel, Bryce, Murph, & Muggshot Jr. are mine! NO TOUCHY!

Saw this on some fanfics I read,

"Talking"

"_Thinking"_

Karyra: Now, on with the show!

Rei: We still aren't a sunday special!

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

"_One!"_

I closed my eyes, the explosion would no doubt blow shrapnel into the room, and I needed a clear line of vision. I felt the shockwave, it almost blew me out of the chair, but I stayed firm. The air blew past me almost knocking my floppy hat off, but I had grabbed it in time. The chair took most of the energy and blow, I had also curled up my legs.

When the dust had settled a little I resumed my calm posture. The other two people in the room were still coughing and recovering.

"How did-? The realtor!" Muggshot Jr. yelled accusingly. A few days before the heist Bryce had gone ahead and scouted the area beforehand. Needless to say, he had placed feed loops and mini-bombs near as he could to the room I was in now.

He had looked like a realtor. I suppose even bad guys need a change of scenery. Muggshot Jr. had run from the room as though I was going to explode him next.

"_Chicken."_

Only Muggshot Sr. remained. The old man slowly got up and he did not take too kindly to his house being blown up. _This_ was not part of the plan. Muggshot Sr. walked with his arms, his legs, now I knew why they looked so thin, were hanging beneath him like spaghetti. Who would have guess that he wasn't a coward like his son?

_Crack._ Glass floor and walls, plus explosion equals bad things. Such as a collapsing floor and pain. The floor hadn't given way yet, but Muggshot Sr. with his large arms would not doubt finish removing the floor.

"No don't-" I yelled too late, I was falling. Glass shards fell past my face as I tucked my legs into the chair and curled into a ball. Seconds were like hours during the fall. I stood up on the chair and leapt from it onto the nearest wall. Allowing myself to slide down, I assessed the situation. There was shattered glass everywhere and the chair lay in the middle of all the destruction, now just a piece of cloth and some shards of wood. Sliding down I saw Muggshot Sr in the corner, pulling up his guns.

"Come 'ere ya pipsqueak!" Muggshot Sr yelled a few feet away. I landed from my slide on the wall, shards of glass falling from my head and shoulders. Muggshot Sr was a few feet away, as I had thought, slowly getting out his two very large and standing upon the legs I had supposed that he would never use.

"Ummm... I think I'll stay out of your line of sight..." I said as I stood up on my safe little island in the sea of potentially deadly glass. I pulled out my cane, and elongated it to knock Muggshot Sr out cold. The triggers of Muggshot's guns were being pulled so hard I thought they would break off.

It all happened so slowly. I was in the air, bullets were flying past, and I held my cane above my head**. **I brought it down towards his head, and it connected. The force of my blow was ineffective, well, at least I now knew why his head was so empty. It was a rock.

"Dammit!" I cried when I noticed my cane attack failure. I was knocked to the wall by one of old man Muggshot's arms. They were about the same consistency as his head. "Oww..." A tip; never get hit by those arms. They _really_ hurt. Muggshot Sr pulled the trigger of his guns again, I think he keeps them stashed inside of his pockets, and I narrowly missed becoming a splat on the wall.

"Oi ya little runt! Hold still!" He yelled. I had noticed that the fall from the room above tore a hole in my suit, just above my shoulder.

"Hey! You tore my suit! You know much that costs to fix?" I yelled back.

He responded by shooting at my general direction. I narrowly avoided being shot to death by a raging psycho. More glass shattered as he shot up the room.

"Why are you shooting up your own house?" I asked while he was reloading. I wanted to think of a way to stop him before he finished, so I didn't do anything.I don't know if he noticed, but if he hit me I wouldn't be able to move anymore. I was too tired to run any further. I stood there, waiting for inevitable moment when he would shoot me.

On instinct I reached in my bag and pulled out foaming pellets.

"_Of course I could-"_

Rather than continue this thought, I had noticed that Muggshot Sr. was about to finish loading his guns. I needed a plan for my other plan. In the corner of my eye something glinted. I looked in that direction quickly, and saw a large chunk of glass sitting right behind Muggshot Sr, and a broad beam of light next to it. Before my plan could formulate completely, Muggshot Sr. had finished. I dived between the space of him and my pieces of chair which I had abandoned so forcibly. I landed with my hands and rolled with the momentum, snatching up the shard of glass as I went. I splayed myself against the wall, the glass pressed against me, and shone the light into the big bully's eyes using this glass shard.

"Gah! I can't see nuffin!" He cried. I leaped into the air, pushing forward and landing right in front of him.

"Hey you big runt! Say it right!" I cried as I stuffed the foaming pellets into his two guns, I usually can't throw a snowball at anyone, but I was close enough to manually stuff them inside the gun chambers. The foam, due to the extreme shock they had suffered, swelled to enormous size and blotted out the path that the bullets usually took.

"You ruined my guns!" He growled. I placed my hand on top of his head and used it to pivot around enough to spin around and slap more pellets along his back. I held back for a quick quip.

"Maybe you shouldn't take what never belonged to you." I muttered under my breath. I slapped the remainder of my foaming pellets on his back and I pushed myself clear. Pretty soon the big muscular Muggshot Sr was covered in foam, except for his head.

"Eh, you pipsqueak, you most assuredly are yah Fada." He said before clamming up, and the foam covered his mouth. I activated my comm.

"All good on this end. Although I have some repairing I have to do to my suit." My suit had sustained one major cut around the middle and down my back. Along one small tear was where a bullet grazed me.

"_Guh, those pages had better be worth it, repairing my suit is going to take the rest of the weekend."_

Along the bottom of my ribcage was the small cut where the bullet narrowly missed me. Up and to the left a little and I would be seriously injured. I never said that it didn't hurt like hell though. While the adrenaline was still flowing and common sense was starting to kick in, I ran after Muggshot Jr.

Junior had fled earlier, and I wanted to find him before he got off the property. I compressed my cane and began to search. I climbed from wall to wall, searching for foot and handholds along the wall so I could climb back into the shattered room.

There was no guarantee that I could follow his path exactly, but I knew the blueprints of this place and had found the most secure room in the building. The topmost room one the fourth floor. Also known as the penthouse. One way up, and if you didn't have a parachute, the only way down. Which make me question their building plans.

Junior would flee to the most secure area in the entire house. Being not very strong or fast, he would use the security measures against the trespasser. AKA; me.

"Murph," I said into my comm, when I realized I had one rouge factor. "Keep an eye on Michel Fox, if he gets there first the plan is doomed!" My flight through the house was direct and undisturbed. For now. Junior had placed some big time explosives and booby traps throughout the house.

His father had helped, saying 'I got the idea from some runt down in the Aces competition.'

I didn't know that he could understand most words, rather than fly a plane. I was not surprised when he was taken out of the competition because he got arrested. Carmelita Fox had done my Father a favor apparently, seeing how 'Cooper' led to her the infamous Muggshot Sr. Muggshot had also protested to the Cooper gang interference.

"That runt in a wheelchair lured me out here! He insulted my Muda!" He cried when he was arrested. Carmelita wrote, "I really enjoyed taking him down for the second time, but I have to wonder if-" The rest was too well scratched out to read. She had also done this to many of her side notes.

_Boom!_

"_That would be the C4."_

It had knocked me against the wall, and knocked the breath out of me. I had to mutter angrily at the number of times I had been blasted against the wall today. Once is fine, but when you are blasted against the wall twice, you get a little angry. I peeled myself off the wall and began to run, faster this time I did not want to be blown against the wall _again_. Although I was still winded, I didn't want to lose precious time.

"Give it up! I'll get you!" Junior screamed over the loudspeakers.

"You don't have to yell, I can hear you just fine from here." I said, still running, getting ever closer to my goal.

"You came here, defiled my home, and you still use sarcasm to ridicule me?"

"You clearly aren't the prodigy son then, I thought it was obvious."

"ARGH!" I suppose being a fourteen year old prodigy meant you had to suffer at that hands of much older and meaner children. As I have probably already stated, I suck at interpreting when to stop, but I knew that he wanted me to. I didn't care though, no sympathy for fourteen year old gang runners.

"Why are you so tiny?" I said as I jumped over a bear trap that had risen from the floor. I pulled far to the left when ten large saw blades came out of the wall opposite of me. I was pressed hard against the wall to avoid looking very much like bacon. I creept along the wall until I was on the opposite side, then took off like a rocket, ready to avoid my next obstacle.

The one problem with that was that he could block the elevator, and I was on the second floor. There wasn't any stairs either, which made sense, considering that they work for the mafia, but one way in and out is pretty stupid. So when the doors opened in a sign of gloating, I grabbed a hold of the elevator cables. I wasn't about to go down so easy. I wanted my prize, no, I wanted to hit him. _Really_ hard.

"_Stupid little pest won't let me near him."_

Hand over hand I climbed. I was about to tire and take a break when I heard the elevator coming up behind me.

"_Dammit!"_

I crawled with renewed panic. That elevator could make me into a little splat.

"_No wait, I have a better idea."_

It was coming _up._How far up was it right now? It was close enough to me that meant that I wouldn't become raccoon pancake. I let go and free fell for a little bit.

_Thud._ It was a little farther than I had thought, but I had managed to avoid hurting myself. Which, given my latest track record was quite a feat. I searched around for the fire exit door. I pulled it open and slipped inside the roomy elevator. Reaching over for the penthouse button seemed so easy, until I noticed who else was in the elevator with me.

"Hello, Junior." I said as I turned to face him, cane out.

"Hello, thief." He replied. A small pistol at the ready.

"Aw come on, I'm about to rob your house and you don't even know my name? That hurts man."

With that he shot my cane out of my hand, and grasped _my_ cane in his grubby little hands.

"Bad move." I growled.

"What are you going to do? Foam me over like my father? In case you haven't noticed I have your weapon!" He laughed at me.

I punched him. As soon as contact was made with my fist, I felt something break and he let go of _my _cane. I reached over and grabbed it back off the floor.

"_That _is what I'm going to do, pig." I prodded him with my foot. He wasn't out cold, he was faking, I could hear his small whimper. I would let him continue feigning unconsciousness. For now. The elevator dinged, signaling that I was on my floor.

I walked into the posh room. Every wall had at least one painting on it, and the couches were surrounded by eight plasma screen TVs. I let my mouth drop. I twirled around on the tip of my foot and used the momentum to hit Junior, who had picked up a lamp and was going to hit me with it.

"Well, you most certainly weren't going to tell me where my book pages are _now _were you?" I asked the unconscious preteen.

I stalked around the room, tearing up the couches and stealing the paintings.

"_These'll fetch a pretty penny."_

After I had stashed a couple in my pack, I saw a vault behind the one titled _Sir Yankee. _I looked at the painting then back at the vault.

"Problem?" Bryce asked from behind me. I jumped about ten feet in the air.

"How did you get up here? I was supposed to let you in." I asked.

"Window washer's platform."

In preparation for carrying out the goods, he was wearing form fitting jeans and a t-shirt. His glasses were replaced by goggles.

"So, we have a painting safe here do we?" He said, bringing me back to the painting safe.

"Uh yeah, I'll search for valuables and stuff while you do that."

"You do that." I handed him my magnifying glass that I got out of my never ending knapsack. I searched around the room.

On a nightstand there was a picture of three people. On the far right was a hippo wearing a shirt and a mask, the holes in the mask were covered by the enormous goggles he wore. There was drawing over his stomach, 'Wash me'.

I suppose Muggshot had managed to get a picture and used it to fuel his fury. On the left was a turtle with a bunch of buckles over his shell and a safari hat and glasses. He held a crossbow loaded with darts. Written over him was 'Gimpy runt' along with several nasty names. The guy in the middle obviously received most of the hate, he was scribbled over completely. I pulled the picture out of the picture frame. The two on the sides had actually the least amount of intrigue to me.

I wanted to see the guy in the middle. The one bit that survived the scribbling was a cane. The crook was exactly the same as mine. I folded the picture and placed it inside my pocket.

"Done!" Bryce yelled from the front room.

I walked to the front room, and saw that he had the safe open and looted.

"Any incriminating evidence our, Inspector can 'find'?" I asked.

"Yup, enough to bury these two. Let's blow this joint." I walked over and tucked my icon inside of the papers.

I nodded and walked to the window. Fortunately, it was the entire wall and I could see Murph and his van from here. Pulling out my cane and pressing the button on it, it was ready to smash in the window. With unwonted force I smashed it open. I knocked some of the extra glass over the side. I gave Bryce a thumbs up sign.

"We are go for departure." He said.

I jumped out into the brown desert landscape. I pressed my parachute button, but it wouldn't release. I pressed harder on the button. I whacked my back where it should be coming out.

"Bryce!" I screamed as I fell. The fight with Muggshot Sr must have damaged it. I closed my eyes.

Arms wrapped around my waist, and the falling was stopped completely. I dared to open my eyes again. I was on the ground, and my savior was nowhere to be seen. Bryce landed next to me, his makeshift parachute billowing down around him.

_Foof._ There's my parachute...

"Who saved me?" I asked Bryce.

"I didn't see. By the time I hooked myself up, you were on the ground." He responded.

I looked back up at the fire hydrant house like it would give me the answers. Maybe someday I would get some.

"It's time to go." I said after hearing sirens.

_A little while later..._

I had waited a long time after the siren were heard and we supposedly left. I wanted to make sure that the Muggshots were both arrested. I saw Michel walk out and disappear behind a van. I received an evil idea and went down to enact it.

A quick whack of the cane later, I had the forensics jacket on, head down, tail tucked carefully into the jacket. Walking calmly onto the crime scene, well knowing that it was a bad plan, I waltzed behind Michel, and just watched him work.

"What do you mean I already asked for the files and paper icon? I just got here you twit!" Wow, that was... intense, and mystifying.

"_Didn't I just see him leave?"_

He thrust his coffee at the poor probationary agent, affectionately called 'probies' by the older agents, "Hold on to this while I check these files." Michel said in restrained anger.

Michel stormed off, leaving the poor probie alone and confused.

"I'll take that, he wants it refilled, you can store that in your memory for next time." I told him in a gentle, and helpful voice, I hope it sounded like it at least.

"S-sure thanks..." The probie muttered and left.

I walked calmly out of the building, and strolled to where Bryce and Murph were waiting inside the van. The screech was heard even through the windows of the van as we drove away:

"_Where's my damn coffee!_"

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Karyra: Muhahaha!

Rei: Muhehehehe!

Karyra: What the hell was that?

Rei: The evil giggle.

Karyra: You are so strange...

Rei: Well, I suppose it's a nice change of pace.

Karyra: As always, if you review, you might win a penny! :D

Rei: And I might not steal your coffee. :D


	5. Panda King

Rei Cooper: Legacy Of Thieves

Chapter 5: Duck Pajamas

Karyra: *Glances around nervously* A new character is coming. And my title is new. I stole it from HeroSpirit.

Rei: So you aren't even going to try to explain who they are at all are you? And that is random.

Karyra: Nope and Yes.

"_Rei thinking"_

"Talking"_**  
**_Karyra: Never been to China, so I have no idea how it works, so I'm going off what I know from Sly.

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

_"Hey soul sister, hey woulda missed ya..." _I slapped off my radio alarm clock. I debated about getting up for awhile, but I smelled Mom's pancakes. Leaving on my baggy shirt and sleep pants with kittens on them, I left for the kitchen. The sizzling of bacon and eggs woke me up the rest of the way. Walking calmly out into the corridor, I was dimly aware of another person standing next to me.

_Ding dong._

"I'll get it!" Something was off. When I tried to look at the person next to me, he was a complete shadow.

There was evil behind that door, and I knew it. Yet the shadowy raccoon crept closer and closer to the door. I tried to run forward, but a hand held me back from stopping the raccoon. The eerie creak of the door was the last part of my dream, and I woke up to tears on my face. I shook a little. That was a traumatic event, and I want to know why it kept coming back. I turned my head to look at my clock, only to realize that I was in China. Several hundred miles away from my mickey mouse clock.

Why am I in China, you ask? A few days ago we got a call from a Mr 'Panda King'. We did our research -AKA: hacked into interpol- it said that they were enemies then he later joined his gang for some strange reason. I rubbed my face. Jet lag is never much of a major issue, but I never got the chance to sleep on the plane among my many pulsing thoughts. The large plump panda welcomed us into his home and I rested uneasily until I woke up right about now.

I checked out the window in the guest room. The sun was peeking out from between two mountains which looked purple in the light of the rising sun. There was a very little chance that I would fall back asleep, so I got up and scoped out the place. It was fairly simple, containing only a few guest rooms and a master bedroom which we didn't dare go into, and a small fountain out back. Very simple for the 'Panda _King_'.

"You're up early." Said the deep voice of the Panda King. I hadn't even heard him come up behind me.

"Jet lag and nightmares don't mix." I replied. "Why are you up this early anyway?"

"I like to watch the sun rise, to watch the birth of a new day." He didn't seem to be confused by my statement about nightmares and jet lag.

"Why did you ask us here anyway?" I asked after a short pause.

This time it was longer. Eventually, he came to a decision. He waved for me to follow. He went to the front door and I began to question, but I had no doubt that he wasn't leading me to my doom. I mean, Who kills their arch-nemesis in their duck pajamas? I was also following my gut here. We walked for about two doors down from his house and stopped at a traditional chinese home with the pagoda roof that stuck out a little over the box that people lived in. It did not look like the home of assassins, but its always hard to tell.

"Ō, bà ba! " Said a silhouette in the paper thin door. I have never gotten the chance to speak much chinese in my worldly travel, considering I only stayed long enough to steal what I wanted. The door slid open and the woman in a chinese dress turned around and lead us inside. Her black hair was tied up in a tall bun with chopsticks sticking out of it. Hair drooped in front of her face before she turned and appeared to brush it out of her face. She led us to her eating room and poured us some tea to drink and I pondered about what I could be here for.

"_What are you trying to show me Panda King?"_

"Wǒ hái yǐwéi nǐ yào bāngzhù zǔzhǐ qiúhūn, fùqīn. " Her face was away from me, so I didn't get a good look at her.

Until then I had no idea how loose my duck Pjs were. I also had no clue what they were saying so I retained a passive smile on my face.

"Tā bùshì qiúhūn qīnài de nǚér, tā shì huì dédào fāng huílái. " The Panda King replied soothingly. He looked at me.

I smiled like an idiot and sipped at my tea some more.

"Fùqīn, tā wúfǎ lǐjiě zhōngguó, tā zěnme néng dǎbài li jiāngjūn? " The woman asked, pointing at me after she said that.

"Bùyào hàipà, tā shì nǚér Sly Cooper. " He replied, it appeared to be in a soothing tone.

I heard 'Sly Cooper' and attempted to pay more attention.

"_Note to self: Must learn how to speak chinese. This is driving me up the wall."_

"Fāng wúyí huì xiāngxìn tā huì shā le tā. Shènzhì shǐ xiàng wǒ yīyàng de cuòwù, nǐ zhīdào tā... "

"_Fàngsōng diǎn, zhè jiāng shīqù gōngzuò. "_ Panda King finished. "Rei, shall we go?"

"Sure." We showed ourselves out and when we were outside the Panda King explained why we were summoned.

"My granddaughter. She has been taken by a general in the north, and is to be married the following week. She is... strange as the toucan, yet carefree like a bird. Bring her back quickly, I have not the strength to do it myself, and she may take down half of China before escaping." He closed his eyes. "Please help Fang."

I laid my hand on the nearest spot I could grab onto, his elbow. What can I say? He was a good foot taller than I was.

"I'll help her, but what do you mean 'She may take down half of China before escaping'?" I asked him, by eyes scrunched by confusion and a touch of distrust.

"Once you meet her, you will know." He laughed heartily. "You will know." afterwards we returned to his house.

Breakfast was delicious, but something was weighing heavily on my mind. Using some of my ninja/thief skills, I managed to corner Bryce and discuss the Panda King's family.

"Who is Fang King?" I asked him in a dark room out of the way of the average route. Panda King's house is very large.

"Fang King? I don't know, but there is no Wi-fi out in the mountains you know. I guess I could hotwire a quick connection to google her or something, but it would only last for thirty minutes before the satellite went out of range. Then there's the whole content of the walls, if lead is mixed with the paint the signal could get scrambled-"

"Yeah yeah I get it's a big operation, but could you tell me if it will be enough to look up Fang King?"

"If you could hack the chinese government system in under thirty minutes. Which is probably what I'll have to do, considering Google's not reliable for this sort of stuff."

"Thanks, it just, something's bugging me, and he's not telling me the whole story." Bryce gave me a severe look, as if he was asked to roll a rock up a hill thirty times.

Always trust your gut, especially if its yelling at you to trust it and distrust the guy giving us free food. Then, the door slid open slowly, and I saw Murph standing there with an expression like he had his hand in the cookie jar.

"_There should be a lock on that door."_

He just slid it back to where it had been before, and uncomfortable feeling in air increased exponentially.

"Uh, I think we'll meet back here tomorrow..." Bryce got up and left the room.

"_I knew I should have picked my room..."_

The rest of the day went smoothly, if smoothly includes cornering Murph and telling him that what he saw was me and Bryce planning on getting information on the person we were going to go find. It also included physically hurting him if he blabbed about this on his blog, yes he has a blog.

Only later did I have any clue as to how bad this excursion would get. Right now, it would be easy sailing.

"Pass the rice please." I asked the Panda King.

We were sitting down to a feast worthy of kings. Literally. Bryce said that he would have the temporary Wi-fi quick connection up in running soon, but unless I knew ASCII code, binary code, and an intimate knowledge of firewalls, he was going to have to hack into the system. This time we were in my room, and as a crude burglar alarm, I had set up the dresser in front of the annoyingly lock-less doors.

"I'm in." Bryce announced after fifteen minutes.

"Then move over." I said as I pushed him from the computer. Time was precious and it was half gone.

I typed in the words I wanted to know about, Fang King, and pressed the enter button. Time was nearly gone by the time it found the result. Nothing. There was no one in China named Fang King. There was the 'Fang King' ruler of the deals on fangs of any kind, but no _normal_ person named 'Fang King'. I positioned the pointer back over the search bar, but the time had run out. There was no longer any internet connection in this small hut. The satellite was gone.

"Dammit!" I screamed.

"So no luck then." Bryce commented.

"Nope. Well, do we need medicinal fangs?" Bryce gave me a funny look, then nodded in understanding.

"So you reckon shes not real."

"Yup."

"And Panda King's lying to us."

"Uh huh."

"After feeding us and I saw him go over to the house two doors over to cry about a fake person."

"How'd you find that out?"

"I followed him. You're not the only one with thief skills Rei."

"I'm the one who can follow invisibly though."

It was joke, but it didn't go over well, there was silence for a long time.

"So," Bryce started. "You reckon we should go for it?"

I thought this over.

"_On one hand this could be a ploy to trap and kill me by rescuing a fake granddaughter from this 'General Li'. On the other, if I refuse it would seem heartless and cruel to not help his _real_ granddaughter out of that situation. Trust him or simply refuse to help. Why is this so hard? Come on Rei! You steal from criminals! You outwit them usually! You can outsmart this guy if it come to it. You will do it. You've already accepted, so you'll just have to have a backup plan."_

I got up to pace some more on the topic.

"We have to do it." Bryce said after I felt my feet getting sore.

"Yes. I suppose we do." I moved to the window but Bryce stopped me.

"I suppose you aren't going to tell him about that criminal act we just pulled?"

"What thief tells the police on herself?" I asked him.

"Not a very good one."

I got up and began to open the window on the far side of the room. Snagging my bag on way over.

"What are you doing? I thought we were just going to leave."

"I'm thinking that maybe I should see if Fang has a room. Something's off about this, Panda King said something about her blowing up half of china. I want to see what kind of person we are saving before we really do save her." With that I left the resident genius blocked into a room with no way out.

The window was low to the ground, but far enough up for me to grip the top of the next roof. I pulled myself up to the top and slung one arm for stability and strength. I used my toes to grab footholds below and pushed up with all my strength to shoot me onto the roof while not making too much noise. I crept along the two roofs with ease, which was good, but I had no idea where this 'Fang's' room would be. Which made it even harder to find the room containing the essence of Fang. I would have to make an estimate as to where she might live, I doubt that she would stay at her grandfather's all her life, so I would guess the woman's house.

Before I knew it, I was looking over the woman next door's garden. Trees surrounded a small pond which goldfish swam around inside. I was only guessing that Panda King and the woman were connected. I didn't even know her name. I felt kind of bad about not knowing her name and breaking into her house, but I pushed the latter's feeling back. I did this all the time, why was it bugging me now? Its not like I was going to _take_ anything. I was going to be in and out in a few minutes, not even near enough for her to notice I was even there.

Landing on the grass near the pond, I stealthily crept to the back door, fully expecting it to be locked, but when I opened it, it slid open far too easy.

"_Geez, these guys need to learn about locks on doors."_

Sliding into the hall I slid the door back into place, making it look like I wasn't here. I stuck to the walls, keeping a low profile and stifling my urge to hum the Mission Impossible music. The darkness helped, but I was in my normal clothes, which usually consist of a black t-shirt and some khaki shorts. Since I was in my room, I snatched up my magical bag of goodies and party favors and strapped it to my leg. Suddenly, I had another moment where I had to stifle the urge to make a tomb raider reference. One of these days though...

I stuck my head around the corner and looked around for the woman. Empty. I began to sigh, but I quickly reminded myself of the fact that she could still be inside the house, and it would not be good to relax just yet. I creeped along the wall until I came to a door. Naturally, I opened it. The room was spartan except for a small bonsai tree on a desk near a window facing the garden out back. I'm not sure, but I think that bonsai trees are Japanese, which led me to think as to why it would be in an empty room. Shutting the door behind me quietly, I went around to investigate.

Who knows? Maybe there's a secret trap door activated by touching the bonsai tree. I reached over and moved the pot, shifted the branches, and checked under the table. No such luck. So I moved to the closet. It was average, but I could see the signs of age on it. Small scribbles near the bottom, and the knobs to open it were well worn by hands. I held the door's knobs in my grip and slowly pulled it open. Somewhere far off was an almost inaudible click, and a light went on. The woman was home. I slid into the wardrobe, keeping the door slightly ajar so I wouldn't be shut inside, it smelled like gunpowder and mothballs in there for some reason. Footsteps, it was fortunate that I hid because they were getting nearer.

"_What time is it anyway! Shouldn't she be asleep?"_

I heard the door creak open.

"_Empty wardrobe, yeah, just completely ignore it and go away..."_

Sobbing. I heard sobbing.

"Nǐ wèishéme zhème xǐhuan nǐ de fùqīn... Nǐ wèishéme bùnéng xiàng qítā rén yīyàng, nǐ wèishéme bùnéng yǔ nín de shēnghuó nèiróng, ér bùshì fēngxiǎn duō zhàyào, bìng xuéxí rúhé dǎ? " If I had any clue as to what she was saying I would have leaned in.

I dared to open the door only a little more to see where she was, but it was useless. She must have been to my left and away from my very tiny range of sight. I heard her get up and the smell of jasmine flowers entered the tiny wardrobe. The sound of the door being shut and footsteps confirmed the fact that she was out of the room. Once again stifling the urge to hum the Mission Impossible theme song, I climbed out of the closet.

On the top of the bed was a picture of a tall strong panda wearing army fatigues and holding a small baby panda. They were both beaming broadly, the soldier at the camera and the baby at the soldier. Candles surrounded the photograph.

"_I wish I could remember..."_

The only clear part of my childhood was when I showed up at the orphanage. It hurt. In fact, I was clinging to the only piece of paper that my Father might have written. I haven't let it go. Absentmindedly, I pulled out the crumpled piece of paper that had been sitting in my pocket since interpol. The small blue ink was enough to steel me and trust the Panda King. I pulled myself together and crawled out the window, shutting it closed behind me.

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Karyra: I have two words for you guys:_** SLY 4**_. SQUEEEE! *Explodes*

Rei: Damn, now what are we going to do?

*Karyra reforms*

Rei: Erm...

Karyra: Okay R&R or...

Rei: Else.

Karyra: That's what you are going with? Else? I would have gone with: Or I'll steal your face.

Rei: o.o


	6. SNAFU

Rei Cooper: Legacy Of Thieves

Chapter 6: SNAFU

Karyra: Yes! I finally can focus on typing!

Rei: Why is that?

Karyra: I was...

Rei: You were what?

Karyra: Telling everyone about how I do not own Sly Cooper or his ideas, however, I do own Fang, Rei, Bryce, Murph, General Li...

Rei: We get it! Ugh... why are you doing this in chapter six anyway?

Karyra: Hmm. I dunno.

"_Rei thinking"_

"Talking"

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

I suppose it was going to happen, the day where the jungle won. Where we couldn't drive the van to our location without suspicion. We would have to walk through a jungle which would cause us blisters and splinters and a few close calls with quicksand. Yes, jungles are super fun. I used my cane most of the way, it was nearly as useful as Indiana Jones' whip. I was amazed that people would _volunteer_ to be out here. It was insanity.

When we finally arrived, we had been bitten, gotten nearly sucked bloodless by giant mosquitoes -don't ask-, sucked into quicksand three times, and gotten blisters the size of Montana. Oh and, don't ask about the giant mosquitoes. We were tired, looked like we had met the swamp monster, and been dragged to the black Lagoon. In all, we looked terrible. I was beyond glad when it was over. I sniffed my arm.

"GAH!" I pulled my face away from my arm so quickly that I almost got whiplash. "I need a shower. Stat!" I cried.

I however, was not the worst by far. Bryce was forced to go back to contacts after losing his glasses to one of the many _many_ quicksand pits. Murph lost his favorite gloves to a boa constrictor who bit into them and tore the leather in half. I didn't wear my suit due to the expensive price of kevlar, and I wasn't going to find another gold ingot to steal to stitch it up again. So my outfit of a black shirt and khaki shorts was done in too. Looking back at the jungle I realized that it would also mean that if we got stabbed we would be 329 miles away from the nearest hospital. Which is about three days ladies and gentlemen. It actually took four due to our inability to walk in a straight line.

In all, we almost died when we saw the palace of General Li, it had a tall wall going all along the castle, and giant stone lions looked out to the jungle. Guards lined every five feet along the open space along it, and the palace itself was about five stories tall. Which was also full of guards which checked on each other, and if one was missing they would report it. The place was almost tighter than Fort Knox. I should know, I broke into it to get the money to repair my suit. I remembered when the Panda King told us all about the palace.

"How are we going to get inside then?" I asked Panda King when he showed us the mysteriously obtained blueprints.

"There is a village about two miles to the north, it could provide a safe-house and the people dislike the General enough to not ask what we are doing." He replied. Something told me that he would have tried to break in if he was younger.

Regardless, here we were, two miles away from the safe-house, and tired. We had learned that nighttime was the worst time to start walking, as most of the wildlife was nocturnal. However the daytime was a terrible time to sleep in, as everyone was dog tired and Bryce can't spot a giant rhino five feet away without his glasses. The contacts only worked slightly better.

Which all eventually led us here, just two miles away from a hot shower and deodorant, and by the smell, I needed it...really badly. Somehow the guys were still back there, stumbling among the underbrush and trees. Out of the blue, a card drifted lazily down. Without much effort or thought I snatched it out of the air.

_Keep an open mind, or maybe a mystical one._ Was all it said on the back, written in the same blue ink and the same handwriting that my Dad had put on the note. I scrabbled around in my pack for a little while before finding it, but the handwriting was the same. I turned over the card, it was a joker, with a picture of a bird on a unicycle laughing heartily.

"_Okay, one: magic doesn't exist, why would Dad send this card? Two: Something's off... but I can't place what. This card is the first time he tried to contact me. I don't know if I should buy it."_

A soft rustle took me away from my thoughts and make me look toward where the shadowy figure of my Father with a hood drawn up to avoid attention waited for just a moment, then fled swiftly away.

"Hey! It's my turn with the machete!" Bryce cried out.

"_It's fake anyway right? No point in worrying them."_

I tucked my card into my pack with the note. Their tromping finally ceased as they exited the forest from Hell.

"Last time you had it, Bryce, we nearly had our heads chopped off because you couldn't see five feet in front of you." I commented after they began to wrestle over the long blade. "And anyway, there seems to be a bamboo path the rest of the way, and it's downhill. We won't need it."

"Right." Bryce paused.

"Wha-what about sp-spiders!" Murph said.

"Well, we should be fine, the only things to worry about right now are if snakes attack us on the way down." Bryce replied as he put his hand on Murph's shoulder.

Murph screamed an unearthly scream for such a scary looking guy and tore off down the hill with Bryce hanging on for dear life. I was the only one left in the clearing.

"_I have a bad feeling about this..."_

Bringing out my cane and leaping from tree to tree kept my mind blank most of the way, but thoughts were trying to creep in. They were shadowy and dark thoughts. Each one was hard to grasp at, but I wasn't interested in my thoughts right now.

"Time to blend in with the locals." I said.

Bryce and Murph just nodded in agreement, Bryce a slight nod, looking green, and Murph just a pale shade of yellow. Slowly, I found another clearing where they couldn't see me and changed into black leggings with a denim skirt with tons of those clip-on buttons on it that say strange things, I kept my black shirt, but added a many pocketed white jacket to the mix, this was to cover that fact that it had a slash on the stomach. I strapped on some converse shoe boots, and prepared to leave. Except another card was sticking out of my bag.

"_Geez. At least tell me in person Dad. If that's really you."_

This one was a King of Spades. Wearing robes of black and white, Bryce's face was twisted into a sneer of condescension. Everything about this card told me that Bryce wasn't who he seemed to be. Even the back with it's blue ink told me so.

_Is this your card?_ That was it. Nothing else was written upon the back. I stuffed the card into my white jacket.

"_Nice try. That's totally not him. I can see the photoshop."_

On the way out I noticed a bag that Bryce usually kept by his side, a small white bag that seemed so plain. I looked around, no one was there.

"_Maybe..."_

I pulled out the card, wondering if it was true. I quickly checked around, and dug among my teammate's possessions. Digging around, I found a grapple-cam, some eggs, a pocket knife, tiny bombs, and the rest of the pages to the Thievius Raccoonus. It was clipped together with a paperclip and tiny handwriting was in the margins. Bryce's tiny handwriting to be exact.

"_Still. Could easily be planted. This doesn't prove anything. Anyone these days can fake handwriting. I think..." _

There was one other thing inside the bag. A picture of the Bryce as I knew him and another mouse who wore a bandana on her head and overalls. Her hands were still stained with grease, but I could tell by the tiny computer writing that this picture was taken one year ago.

"_It's careworn, and folded. It has also been straightened many times as though he looks at it often. Okay, time to lay off the Sherlock Holmes books Rei."_

This picture couldn't have been photoshopped. The edges of both people were smooth, and they were looking and touching each other as though they knew the other was there. It was authentic. I wanted to glare at it some more, but I only had time to stuff the Thievius Raccoonus into my bag and return the items already inside it before Bryce came looking for the scrap of fabric. Bryce had changed into some jeans and a shirt containing binary code that looked like a flaming heart.I hid among the bamboo trees like the felon I was. Bryce looked around for a minute before scrabbling among the pack for the picture I had spotted only moments before. He held it like an ancient relic. Kissing it and muttering to it.

"_This changes everything."_

Get revenge later, save the girl right now. Sometimes, you need to get your priorities straight before going off in a rage. I knew better than to confront him about something as momentous as that picture right away. It didn't stop me from fuming in the bamboo cove. As though he heard the silent tantrum I was throwing, he stuffed the photograph away hastily and left.

"_So one of my friends since childhood has never been an orphan, lied to me, and seems to have been a part of that group who stole my family's treasure. What's next? Murph will turn out to be undercover for InterPol?"_

Trust is essential to all thieving gangs, I guess I have no choice but to trust Bryce's reasoning, I don't like it, but I can trust him to get stuff done right now. Exiting the enclosed space of the bamboo, I went over to my 'dressing room' and walked to the prearranged meeting area to shake suspicion. We made Murph ditch the mask and dress like a motorcyclist to evade suspicion. He is big after all, why not make him a biker?

"Hey, you ready to say nothing?" Bryce said after a while.

I will never get over the fact that he can speak more languages than me.

"_Maybe its because he's-STOP IT."_

I need to trust him for now. If I break that trust before the op is done... we are all going to enjoy the new setting. Of _jail_. No time to figure things out yet. I just have to keep going.

"Hey! I asked if you are ready to go." Bryce asked again.

"Oh, um, yeah. I'm ready." I replied.

Murph was sitting in the corner simpering.

"N-no sp-spid-ders. N-no m-more sn-snakes..." Murph was whispering to himself.

In his disguise, you never have guessed that he was going to freak out over a tiny spider, or even a snake that didn't even bite. Bryce was the one who cued us to continue on though. I was just glad that he was trying so hard. I wanted to laugh, but I learned some pretty crushing news today. I would say that I don't want to leave, but I need to stay. For these guys.

"Nín hǎo, wǒmen zhèngzài nǔlì xúnzhǎo dào wǒmen de xiǎo gōngyù tōngdào." Bryce said, snapping me out of my stupor.

"Zài zhè zhǒng fāngshì. Li jiāngjūn jiāng shì'gāoxìng'jiàn dào nǐ." Said the man in front of Bryce pointing to a house nearby.

"Xièxiè nǐ, wǒ huì de." Bryce waved him away.

"_What if he's really a traitor? I don't want him to be, but what if he is? What if he just told the man we were a bunch of thieves and to have us arrested?"_

I shook my head clear of these thoughts that plagued me.

"_I can't worry about it right now. Its just... I can't."_

I followed behind him, tensed to run if the villagers surrounded us.

"We're here!" Bryce announced loudly enough to scare the living daylights out of me.

I fled to the nearest rooftop, managing to avoid having the villagers pay any attention to the girl on the roof. Bryce just gave me a funny look.

"Better view from the rooftop right?" I asked as I flashed him a big fake smile.

I could never fool a hamster, why would I even try to fool my friend whom I have known for a long time? Or at least a friend I thought I knew.

"Well, come down from there. You'll get us caught." Bryce replied. Maybe I'm better than I thought at lying. "And do try to stop acting. You're really bad it ya know?" Then again...

After I jumped down from the roof, Bryce unlocked the door to the small dojo.

"Huānyíng, huānyíng wǒmen de qiānbēi dàochǎng! Xiǎngshòu nín de dòuliú!" Said a stork wearing some kind of pajamas. A young female tiger stood behind him, arms crossed and in a defensive stance. She was tall, and thin, like a reed.

"Maybe you should just go back home." She muttered under her breath.

The young tiger wore the pants that are narrow at the top, and grow bigger and poofier near the bottom only to draw them in tight near the ankles. Her blue tank top looked damp from sweat, and a towel hung around her shoulders. Her shoes were black flats, and finally, she wore two thick black bracelets on each of her wrists. Everything about her screamed martial artist. Even the braid she wore down her back, and earrings in her right ear.

"Ràng wǒmen qù hē diǎn chá xiù." The Stork said at last.

"Shì de shūshu." With that she left, to go do... whatever she was going to do.

"_She's going to call the cops Rei. You and I both know it."_

Super. Now I have a voice in my head. And it's also paranoid. Or maybe it's my poor food, shower, and sleep deprived mind. I looked at Bryce, pleading to speak english.

"Fine." He relented.

"Thank you." I replied.

"Ah, you must not be able to speak Chinese right?" The Stork said.

"You must be psychic. I can't speak a word of the language." I responded.

"I'm not. You just looked lost throughout our conversation." The Stork smiled.

"Well, I'm going up to our rooms. Rei?" Bryce replied. Maybe I should get his name at some point. Oh well, I can't complain about free food and lodgings for now. As I climbed up the stairs all was still and quiet. Until something in the kitchen blew up.

"Ō, wǒ de tiān nǎ! Wǒ bùnéng líkāi nàgè nǚhái zuò fàn de dōngxi!" cried Stork as he rushed to the kitchen.

Curious, I wandered back down to see the remnants of the kitchen. She couldn't make tea without blowing up the kitchen I guess. Due to the amount of calm her father had on his face as he picked up the shattered dishes, this was normal.

"_At least I can make easy-mac. This girl can't even make tea."_

It was true. The kitchen walls were still steaming from the hot tea -I guess you could call it water because she was still holding the tea bag- and her at the center of it.

"B-but I used less gunpowder this time Uncle..." She finally managed to say after one minute passed by.

"Ah, niece. That is the problem. You do not use gunpowder for everything, and how you set it off while baking I will not know." Stork pointed at me. "Show her to your room where she is staying."

She only glared for a while before forcefully taking me by the arm and dragging me up the stairs. Let me tell you, she's stronger than than she looks, and she looks like she can chop down trees with her fists. In other words, I almost lost my arm.

When we got up there, she sat me down and went to her closet.

"What's up with you?" I glared, my arm throbbing painfully as I sat there.

"You will look away sir. I'm going to change out of my clothes that are soaked with tea." She stated, oblivious to my question.

"_Oi!_ I am a girl!" I yelled back at her angrily.

She just looked unconvinced. I rolled my eyes and left the room to sit outside.

"_I'm a freakin' _girl_! Why she can't see that is beyond me."_

I sat there and pouted for the longest time. When she finally finished, she pulled the door open. I fell backward, because I had been leaning on the door.

"Ow..." I muttered as I got up from my head crashing to the floor.

"Why were you leaning on my door you-" She started.

"Listen very very closely.I. Am. A. Freaking._ Girl."_ I interrupted. "Are all people in China like that? Or is that just me?"

"_I can see the postcard now: Having fun in China, oh and everyone thinks I'm a guy. Wish you were here!"_

"Just you." She answered as she shut the door in my face.

"I'm off to _great _start with my roommate who thinks _I'm a guy_!" I muttered to myself.

I went downstairs to hunt down the couch, which I hoped was comfortable enough to sleep on. Unfortunately, I don't think that they believed in couches. All that was out there was a singular beanbag chair. I sighed and curled up in it, still smelling slightly of the jungle and all of the animals' 'presents'.

"_Ugh. I smell like a barn."_

Somehow I managed to sleep, and in the dream came figures of swirling darkness and dread. Bringing with them puppets, which the held up, for me to see that fatal wounds, the blood almost made me faint.

"No... stop.. stop it..." I yelled.

They didn't. Then the puppets became everyone I ever knew. They danced on their strings and hung limply there, as if they were merely asleep. They were dead though, gashes across the chest and face, blood dripped slowly down their bodies.

But I didn't see Bryce in there.

"Bryce! Bryyyce!" I called.

"_Someone must still be alive right? Right?"_

I ran away from the bodies that chased me. Into the inky darkness of the dream.

"_They can't be dead! They just can't be!"_

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Karyra: Still rated T, I think this'll be the worst of the stuff, but the rest is not written yet.

Rei: Geez. Creepy dream much?

Karyra: Yeah, but the story I have for you even m- nicer I promise!

Michel: When will I be in this story!

Karyra: Wow. Chill dude, soon okay?

Michel: R&R if you know what's good for you.


	7. Supernatural Host

Rei Cooper: Legacy Of Thieves

Chapter 7: Supernatural Host

*Karyra is pacing back in forth*

Karyra: I need a chapter idea!

Rei: Hey how about... *whispers in ear*

Karyra: Perfect!

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

The first thing I woke up to was my awful stench. I had forgotten to take a shower, and now smelled like I had crawled out of the forest of stink. After yawning and stretching, I went on a quest to hunt down the bathroom. It didn't take long before I did, and I was sure to lock the door this time. Turns out, there was a small latch that turns and stops the door from opening. Who would have guessed? As I prepared the shower, I thought through what had happened so far. Bryce was a traitor... of some kind. I didn't find out what kind, I mean all they gave me a card with the words _Is this you card? _on it and expect me to super sleuth the rest out for myself.

I'm a thief not a detective damn it! I steal not contemplate exactly how I stole the stupid thing. I stepped inside the shower and closed the curtain. The hot water felt good on my tired and aching muscles. I rolled my neck back and forth to remove stiffness from it, and when I finished, I wrapped a towel around myself to dry off. I picked up the clothes I had picked out earlier that didn't smell like something had crawled up in them and died, and dressed.

"_At least nothing's blown up yet. That's a plus."_

After dressing I then left to investigate the smell of eggs coming from the kitchen. All I had to do was find out where the kitchen in question was. I walked as though someone had tried very poorly to put me in some kind of trance. The sizzling helped me find it and I pulled back the curtains to find the tiger girl.

"Nin hao honorable guest." The tone was easy to see that she saw no honor from me, nor was a guest in any sense of the word, just a simple freeloader.

"Hi, um honorable host." Yup, I'm still a master of witty comebacks.

"How was you night's sleep?" She asked as she violently cut and onion with more force than needed. I think I saw the cutting board cry.

"It was fine, and you?" I tossed back at her, trying to make her calm down a little.

"Maybe you shouldn't be up so early, after all, it's only five in the morning, or do thieves get up that early?" More malice to the cutting board, which I think I saw it bleed a little.

"I dunno, sometimes I don't get up until ten in the morning. Then I steal some kind of golden mask of some sort then I sleep some more."

_Snap._ There went the cutting board.

"Um, I think you'll need a new one of those." I commented.

"Shut up and go steal something... I'll fix it later." She snapped back.

"I think you are confusing me with your logic, but whatever." I said as I left the room.

I passed by Bryce as I went out.

"Hey. How are ya this fine morning?" Bryce said as he passed.

I did not answer. I walked back up to the room I had been booted out of. I wanted to know why I wasn't allowed inside even though by now she should know that I am a girl for sure. Although she was grabbing at straws when I showed up. I slid open the door silently, and closed it just as silently. I started toward the room, but locked the door behind me to deter any unwanted visitors. I suppose it _was_ sort of my room too, I just didn't want to interrupted. Tiger girl looks like she could pack a punch if she really wanted to, and I didn't want to find out for sure after finding out why she seemed to want me out of her room. I should also find out her name at some point.

"Re-ei!" Came Bryce's voice down the hallway.

"_Dammit! Why now of all times to call a meeting of the thief council?"_

What I saw though, when I turned around, was a room full of magical objects of strange origin. However, the only thing lighting most of it was candles, obscuring most of the strange objects from view. The only thing that I could pick out in the gloom was a crystal ball next to a solitary candle.

"Rei! Where are you!" Bryce yelled. He sounded much closer now.

What would happen when he found the door locked? Would he pick it? No, he can't pick a lock to save his life, I was saved; for now. The closet was the only thing that seemed to stand out in the dark room. Candles burned by it and illuminated the sign.

"基普奥特"Was what the door said. I really have to learn some chinese at some point. Daring myself into putting my hand on the door, I bravely went where I have never went before. A dark closet holding a small stuffed bunny rabbit. I looked at in wonder, why would anyone want to lock up a stuffed bunny rabbit?

"Damn you to hell! Damn you all you-" There was more, but I like to keep the rating of this story down.

I shut the door and shoved something heavy and made of stone in front of it. Again, it was dark, but it felt a lot like a lion.

"What are you doing in my room?" I heard a voice say behind me.

"_Oh no... I'm going to die."_

"Um, I was curious to see what you-" I started saying.

"Just get out, zéi." She finished.

"My name is Rei not Zéi."

"Funny how they sound alike. Now how about leaving before I turn you into a toad."

"_I knew she was a witch. What I want to know is why she would want a toad."_

I left, much rather than stay and get beaten up. I was deep in thinking when I ran into Murph, and almost got ran over by the big lovable lion. I was knocked violently to the floor. It didn't hurt, but I knew I should've been paying more attention.

"Rei! Oh! So sorry! I didn't see you there! Come on though, Bryce has called a meeting to find out how to get General Li." Murph said as he picked me up, dusted me off, and placed back on my own two feet. Even though I hadn't fallen, I was slightly angered at the manhandling.

I followed along only out of my obligation to Murph, the only one I can trust as far as I can imagine throwing. I had seen the handwriting on the sides of the Thievius Raccoonus, and that was certainly Bryce's. Deciphering the handwriting that was already there, I noticed that he was fascinated about how the Cooper family traveled so much and how they settled down. Seems strange that he would obsess about something like that though.

Only one thing stood out to me though, it was the simple fact that the last page belonged to Bentley. He had written in it and described in great detail my Father's adventures all over the world. Bryce's notes almost covered the page here. Why he was so fascinated with my Father I'll never know. However, it was enough to convince me a little about how he must have done something before. Maybe he got into my bag, but maybe I'm being paranoid.

Maybe I should wait and see where this goes first. After all, there are still certain things that don't match up, such as handwriting can be easily faked, the cards could be lying, and whoever delivers the messages doesn't seem to stick around for long. When Murph stopped it jerked me back to reality, considering that I ran into him. Walking behind someone isn't a time to be pondering the universe. The room we were in had a large white board and a couple seats for Murph and me. Clearly Bryce wasn't going to sit down because he was going to show us the presentation in pictures and mark them with his marker. He loves doing that at home too. He was currently under the table the projector was on, hooking in wires and fixing things so they worked right.

"Ah! There you are." Bryce said when he noticed that I was here. "Then I can finish setting up the projector and we can start." He was not paying attention. "This plug goes here..."

"So, how have you been, I seem to have not bumped into you for as long as we were here." I said to Murph.

"This one just zapped me!" Bryce said under the table.

"Oh, I have been fine, I've just been sleeping and eating mostly. I wanna save my strength." He replied to me. I nodded.

"Oh I got them reversed..." Bryce tried to interject into our conversation. I did the natural thing and ignored him. However, I could not ignore the fact that I smelled burning fur. Before I could even be vaguely concerned, he stood up. "Okay! I got it all hooked up. Let's start before I collapse from electrocution." Bryce said after crawling out from underneath the table.

I patiently sat down around the little projector. Bryce clicked his little remote and a screen popped up, showing there blueprints of the palace we were going to break into barring any major deaths of course.

"First up is the ground level, as you can see we can't enter here..." He took out a marker and began to circle the entrance.

"_Why not?"_

Murph raised his hand and asked, "Why not?"

Bryce just got this look that said "Really?"

"Why not? After all, we could be filled in on what to expect as well as seeing what the front gate's guarded with and be prepared." I said in Murph's defense, although I sided with Bryce, I still don't trust him as far as I could throw him.

However, I think Murph found a laser pointer and was absentmindedly pointing it around the room.

"Fine. It's just that, I don't know but from what we saw out there, and what Panda King told us. it doesn't look good. Guards checking up on each other, one for every five square feet. He hires only those who can be trusted as the upper ranking officers, his buddies from wars and things like that they cannot be bribed in anyway shape or form. The lower ranking guards don't see anything of major importance, they only guard certain segments, report intruders, etcetera etcetera. We are facing a professional task force. He really wants us to not crash his wedding."

"Maybe he wants to keep her _in._" I said.

Murph stopped playing with his laser pointer and said, "Why would she want to do that? This is a pretty mean task force."

Bryce nodded, "Why would he do add so many guards? I mean, she's locked up nice and tight."

"She won't need that much security out here in the middle of nowhere. She wants to break free of his control, maybe she's already done it once, but didn't make it too far." I pondered.

"Yes, yes that would make sense. However, the wall seems to lack the security necessary to prove your theory." Bryce argued.

"It would to you maybe, but there's a protection spell coiled around the whole wall, see that shimmer there?" Tiger Girl added in.

"_Where did she come from?"_

"Where did you come from?" I yelled, startled and pulling out my cane as a reflex.

"Uncle pushed me inside. He said that magic surrounds the whole palace that you would need my help." Tiger Girl said.

"Wha- magic? There's no such thing. Only amateurs that attempt to fool audiences into thinking that." Bryce said, gaining a look of distain on his face.

"Really?" Tiger Girl said.

Her eyes began to glow and her braid lifted of its own will. The marker threw itself out of Bryce's hand, and wrote the words, _Believe me now?_ Her braid fell back down, and she stumbled a little.

"Nice try, but I know that you used... something! I-I just don't know what... maybe wires for the braid... magnets for the marker...no it's plastic..." Bryce babbled.

"That's the outside, you expect me to have my Uncle outside, scribbling with markers? Who would pull the wire then?" Tiger Girl argued back.

"Well, maybe-"

"Listen," I interrupted, "That's nice and all, but I'm pretty convinced that she can do stuff. What now then? Do we blow up the walls? Do we barge in guns blazing? What do we do?"

"Well... we could theoretically, create a bomb able to blow through the walls and the spell have um... I'm sorry... um... you name please." Bryce started.

"Jia." Tiger girl, I mean, Jia said.

"Right. Accompany you through the palace, disabling spells and whatnot. She looks like she can defend herself, so she would not be too much a of a burden right?" Bryce finished.

"I suppose so, but what if you are right and she is wrong?" I asked.

"Well, then the bomb goes off, and you have someone to help you. No downsides here." Bryce clapped his hands and left to go plot. Jia followed soon after saying something about dinner.

The two of us left just kind of looked confused and wondered what just happened.

"Wait, are we going to break in using a bomb and magic?" I asked Murph.

Murph was still processing the marker that had just moved all on it's own, I could see the disbelief. I rolled my eyes and walked out of the room. I wandered out to the living room, to think on what I heard, but I was attracted to the smell of stir fry and orange chicken. I peered inside and the ingredients were flying about the kitchen. Jia just stood in the middle of the chaos orchestrating the whole dinner process. However, I noticed some knives were flying a bit _too_ close to her.

_Thump._ That would be the egg beater. It was going super fast too.

"Ow... you know, someone's here." I told Jia. "Would it kill ya to stop, maybe avoid blowing up the kitchen? Hey, _Jia!_ _JIA!_"

A large bowl full of a mysterious liquid splashed all over me and I smelled like dinner.

"Jia!" I yelled again, but she didn't hear. Something's wrong here.

_"I'm going to have to shake her out of this aren't I? Please don't kill me."_

Another bowl came flying at me and I nimbly backed up by one step. I walked back into the hall and braced myself to slide myself along the wood floors in the kitchen.

"_One..."_

I shook myself to remove all of my nervousness. It would suck if I got stabbed.

"_Two..."_

I lowered my center of gravity by bending my legs down. I even shifted my weight to my heels to go really fast.

"_Three!"_

I launched myself out, bracing for the rug burn that didn't come. I went all of one foot closer to her than when I had been in here five seconds ago. How useful all that was... I used my fingers and toes to drag me closer to Jia in the midst of the kitchen utensil storm. A couple times I almost got a haircut from knives. About halfway I became acquainted with a chopstick.

_Shink._

"_Oh crap."_

I just realized that a chopstick can lodge in you arm if they are going fast enough. I resumed crawling towards the crazy witch, but I got a knife lodged in the same arm as well. The blade was small and narrow, and the length of the blade was no longer than my index finger. It was in about halfway. Maybe if I just yelled at her some more, she would snap out of this before I became a real shish-kabob.

"_Welcome to hell, we are now serving delicious raccoon for dinner. Enjoy!"_

I let the two things remain in my arms because I didn't want them to fly around and hit me again. At last I reached Jia, and grabbed at her ankle. No response. I then hit her in the back of the knee. Everything suddenly clattered to the floor.

"Rei? Wha-what are you doing in the kitchen? Don't you know that's dangerous?" Jia said. "I can't control this much stuff without not letting go of my own control." She needs to learn to tell people these things. I mean would it kill her to tell her guests 'Stay out of the kitchen while I'm cooking, or you'll become a shish-kabob.'

As an answer, I pulled out the chopstick and knife in my arm.

"These might need to be washed." I said before the pain set in. "I'm just- just going to go cry over there in that corner."

I hobbled out and attempted to hide the pain. I felt some blood begin to trickle down my arm. Jia came walking out and said something to me, but I was holding back and hiding the fact that I wanted to scream in agony, so I didn't hear her. Jia finished walking over and looked at my war wounds. Only then did I see the notice written in english; _Enter at your own peril. I'm cooking._Right above the door.

"These aren't so bad... I've done worse to my Uncle." She stated.

"_I'm not going to ask."_

Jia lifted up my arm, I'm not going to say she treated it gingerly, but much rather snatched it from my side like I was going to hit or something.

"What are you going to do to my arm?" I asked.

"Fix my mistake." She said this as though I was a smudge on a piece of paper. "_Curar..."_

Sparks danced down her arm skipping around my cuts, making my arm itch a little before making my wounds close shut, they skipped over shut wounds and with a little glow, it was as if they were never there in the first place.

"_I think... that she's the real deal when it comes to magic."_

"It-that's amazing!" I said, but she was on the ground, out cold. " 'Oh no, don't mind me, I'll just pass out without telling you.' This ought to be fun dragging you back to your room upstairs."

I sighed and wrapped her arm around my neck, and began the long journey upstairs to her room.

"_You owe me big time."_

I have never been very strong, and it was lucky that she was at least conscious enough to keep herself upright.

"Uhh..." Jia moaned as I dragged her upstairs.

"Relax, you'll be fine once I get you to your bed, I hope." I said as I hauled her upstairs.

"Food... someone needs to make the food for dinner tonight."

"I got it, you can do with some rest." I said. As I set her down on the floor.

Hey! It was dark and how was I supposed to find it in the dark? My night vision? Anyway, I think I got really close, but I had to go do one very important thing... _learn how to cook._

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Karyra: I sense my filler chapter is lacking, but I had to do it in order to do my other chaps.

Rei: Oh well. Hey! If you review, then you get entered a thousand times into the lottery!

Michel: Where am I?

Karyra: Close by. Very close by.


	8. Iron Maiden

Rei Cooper: Legacy Of Thieves

Chapter 8: Iron Maiden

Karyra: Let's see...

Jia: Can I light something on fire?

Karyra: Wha- NO! You may not! Besides, you are breaking and entering this chapter, why would you light something on fire and draw attention to yourself?

Jia: Because it's fun...

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

_Boom._ The wall was cracked up to the top. I pulled a small fist pump at my success.

"Jia." That one word launched the tiger sorceress from the bushes on the other side of the palace to begin her spell.

One day. One day to get ready and have a plan. I sense that Bryce is doing something like betraying me now, so I offered Murph to join in this early executed plan, but I know he would say no. I only left early because I couldn't stay. If your heart is nowhere in it Bryce... _No! _ It hurt too much to think about. My friend since childhood would be lying to me the whole time. _Lying _to my face for ten years.

"_No time.._. _to even think right now. Ugh. My earplugs didn't work as they were supposed to. Now my ears are ringing."_

I rubbed at my face. It was two in the morning, and I had commandeered Jia for my heist. It would be a quick in-and-out job. I knew Jia should be rubbing chalk on her fingers now. Jia should then be creating a large circle for me and her to go through, because I would leave her behind to watch or something, there might be more spells along the way.

Something broke through my thoughts before I could finish thinking, and it wasn't an unfriendly visitor. Jia had told me earlier the she would have to speak loudly while she spoke the incantation to break the protection spell in that area. Which worried me, but she said she could do it if she was far away from the guards in the area. I ran to the other side, the guards should be making lots of noise. Why weren't they making noise? I won't panic, panic is the enemy. I was halfway around the wall now.

"_There should be yelling by now."_

"_Huff Huff..._" I was almost there. I could see Jia yelling as she drew a circle on the thin air.

"_Why can't I hear her."_

Like that one guy said, "You never know what your missing until its gone." He was damn right. I had realized that I had relied upon hearing for so much, what would it be like without it? How long would this last? Did I scar them forever, or for a little while?

"_If Bryce was here it would have gone better."_

That voice again. Maybe it was just my conscience. Telling me what -and where- I should be. Or maybe it was some part of me telling myself something important. No, I'm overanalyzing again. I saw Jia turn to me and mouth some words. Not thinking of what else to do I pantomimed an explosion and clapped near my ears in an attempt to make her understand that I couldn't hear right now. She nodded, a strange look on her face. Then she pointed to the hole in the spell. I nodded in understanding. I grabbed my second bomb, placed it on the other side, it was big enough to open a big hole this time. I ran far far away from the bomb this time, hiding behind a tree nearby. Another rush of air went by and I knew it had gone off without a hitch.

"_The one thing so far that's gone right this night. I'm rhyming now. Yay..."_

A tap on my shoulder.

"_I'm going to jail!"_

I jumped about ten feet until I realized that it was just Jia. I just shook my head and pointed to my ears again. Jia pulled out the earplugs.

"Better?" She asked.

"Yes... I knew that they were in." I lied.

"Sure you did. Let's go before the spell wears off or someone sees it."

I nodded, still a little embarrassed over the fact I had left in my earplugs and thought I had gone deaf. I even panicked over it. I launched myself through the hole in the wall and the spell. I rolled to a silent stop and saw no guards in the courtyard. I made the military sign that it was clear, I watch too much TV, but Jia just looked at me as if I had suddenly turned into a hedgehog. I tried waving her over, but she thought she was to hide in the bushes.

"Get over here!" I hissed.

She caught the meaning this time. I slid along the wall, while Jia remained walking, it was still dark out and it was raining, obscuring my vision of where I was going. In fact, the wall was the only thing the I could see for sure in the gloom.

"_I have a bad feeling about this place..."_

For a few minutes we continued walking until Jia interrupted the silence, "I see the palace, it is up ahead, it's not too far, but I can't keep up this sight forever."

"Don't tire yourself out yet, we might need to use spells to undo the traps set down by General Li." I told her in a hushed tone.

"There is no one here to overhear our conversation Rei, why whisper?" Jia quizzed.

I have learned that even if you can't see them, guards can see you really easy, but I didn't tell Jia this, I don't know why, but I think that she wouldn't understand yet anyway. You learn by doing in grand larceny, having people tell you what do to is very hard on someone who ignores rules. I mean, it's how _I_ learned.

"Hey Rei," Jia asked out-of-the-blue.

"Hmm?" I responded.

"Why are you avoiding Bryce?"

"I am not."

"Well, then. I was just wondering why you get all stony faced around him. I suppose that it would be rude to ask anyway." Jia babbled.

I knew this was a ruse to worm out my answer so I stayed quiet. However, I soon noticed that the rain that had been pouring for the whole time we were here, ended abruptly creating a waterfall sort of effect. I looked to Jia for some sort of magical explanation, but she was at a loss too.

I peeled myself off the wall to poke my fingers through the curtain of water, "Hey look at me all sticking my fingers through rain and stuff..."

Jia said nothing, her face got really tense and tight, making it hard to tell how she was feeling. At best I could guess anger... but it was just a curtain of rain. What would there to be get mad about? I shrugged it off and stockpiled it away for later. We walked through the curtain of rain, into... sunshine. But- but we were in the rain just a minute ago. The sun was completely blocked out. So, it's all raining over here, but it's sunshiny over there. I see how it is.

"_Magic is confusing."_

However, I was not prepared for what I saw. A large zen garden, with large trenches instead of the tiny lines drawn in the sand, and large boulders rather than small rocks. To top it all off was the single biggest bonsai tree I have ever seen.

"_Holy Crap."_

"Holy Crap." I said, echoing my thoughts. Only then did I realize that Jia was not by my side.

"Jia... Jia, where did you go? Jia you get back here or so help me... I'll... I'll do something really awful!" I bellowed.

"Mousey!" Called a giant bellowing voice from above.

"Wah! I'm not a mousey! I'm a person!" I yelled as I scrabbled away from the giant tiger hand reaching down toward me.

The sand made it hard, but I managed to flee to the giant bonsai, which meant the hand couldn't reach me unless... I was now sealed inside a giant bubble. Oh, I really dislike this... magic... stuff. I can't say I was pleased that the hand now had me in its grip, but it was soft and warm. The hand was pulling me towards... a much younger Jia. Her face and eyes looked less hard and looked warm and uncynical. She was even smiling.

"I shall call you squishy and you shall be mine." She smiled.

What I wanted to say was, "My name is Rei Cooper, I'm not squishy now leave me the hell alone!" but what came out was, "Squeak squeak squeakers!"

"Aww..." She crooned.

I looked at my hands- er- paws, only to see that I was now a field mouse.

"_I really hate magic."_

She walked inside, her steps thundering along the way. At last we reached an inner sanctum, the rest of the room was vivid red, the only thing filling the other side was a small shrine, with tons of candles surrounding a small picture frame. A blob of black sat on the other side of the room.

"Daddy! I caught this mousey! His name is Squishy!" She held me up like I was some sort of prize that she had won at a fair of some kind. Her hands from underneath my armpits, leaving me to dangle over the floor that look a thousand feet away. I couldn't even plan on escaping.

"Where was Squishy?" The man asked calmly.

"Under the bonsai tree."

"How did you catch it without disturbing the lines?"

"I baited a stick and drew it out." She lied, averting her eyes guiltily.

I wondered why she would lie about something like that. Before I could ponder farther, the man stood up.

"Daughter, you did magic didn't you?" Calm, controlled, but underneath all that was anger. She didn't respond. "_Didn't you?_"

He threw a picture frame this way. It hit Jia in the face, the flat part forward, smashing the glass in her face. She fell down, crying.

"_Why would anyone do this to their own daughter, this is abuse. This guy looks familiar though... who is he anyway?"_

"Daddy..."She started tears already forming in her eyes.

"Pick up the glass and leave. Leave heathen. Never come back." He left in a swirl of black.

I let out some squeaks of encouragement, but I was pretty much helpless. By now I had been let go of, allowed to leave as well. I remained, nudging pieces of glass toward her, and trying to help.

"T-thank you Squishy." She said, the smile was gone.

I woke back up to rain on my face. I felt my face. It was no longer a rodent's, but my own once more. When I pulled my hands away from my face, I noticed that they were bleeding. Four lines with a diagonal slash across each of of my palms.

"_When did I...ooh that hurts more than the chopstick and knife."_

I closed them to hide them from the rain, the rain would only make it look worse than it was. I closed my eyes to rest for a little while, it wouldn't hurt right? No... no it would be fine...

"Rei!" Jia sat up gasping for air.

"Please... can I go back to sleep now?" I said drowsily.

"No! We can't fall asleep here or we'll never wake up again."

"One little light leak check first." She pounced on my chest, slapping the side of my face. "Ow! That hurts! Okay, you can stop now!"

Now fully awake, I sat up and ran toward where the curtain of rain had been before. At least in the dark I tried to, because the sunshine that made it clear, was gone.

"It's not there anymore." Jia said almost as though she answered my thoughts, I noticed her eyes were lighting up the night, just so that you could see them but not Jia herself. Jia blinked and they vanished instantly. Soon, it began to lighten up once more.

"Okay, one thing has been bugging me since I woke up two seconds ago. Where are all the guards? There are supposed to be all these guards, but we haven't seen a single one since we got here. I think something's off about this whole palace. I mean, we fell asleep, but they didn't find us." I commented. I could now see Jia in the dim light.

"You are right. This stinks of deceit." Jia agreed.

"Rei Cooper! You are guilty of trespassing on private property! Freeze, or you will be arrested!" cried an unmistakable voice with uncanny timing.

I was wondering where he went. I put up my hands, but I already had ten escape plans, five that involved escaping into the palace three that involved a rubber duck, one with smoke pellets, and and the last one involved the ability to turn invisible. They all depended upon him being alone, and when I turned around, he was not. He was joined by a deep purple leopard, she struck me as familiar, but my memory left it at that. A hood covered her ears, she wore a slightly torn up tank top and black jeans. Somewhere in my head was screaming run, but I was petrified by an unknown fear.

The rain was still pouring down, but now it was bright enough to tell that you were inside a zen garden, which was throughly soaked, allowing me to see that they were standing on the steps of the palace. Michel holding out his red shock pistol, and the other one was just standing there with a smug look on her face.

"Jia Li, I thought your father abandoned you a long time ago." The leopard said in cold tones.

"Li?" I quizzed.

That little dream made much more sense, the reason she tagged along was not to disable traps, but to get even with her father. Jia shook with anger, I could tell she wanted to be in control, but she was too far gone for that.

"So, what's you name?" I asked the leopard.

"Ceyla." Ceyla replied, it was almost mechanical the way she spoke.

"You don't talk a whole lot. Are you mute or something?"

"Constable Ceyla doesn't talk to petty criminals." Michel interjected.

"I thought you busted criminals alone. Hey, when you get that chance could you arrest General Li inside for kidnapping?"

"We got a call that someone was trespassing on private property." Michel argued.

"Let me guess-" I muttered.

"General Li. He called to tell us about the two rogues who vandalized his walls. We happened to be close by." Michel finished.

"_This night keeps getting funner and funner doesn't it?"_

I used some of my knowledge on Michel to irritate him further.

"Why are you hanging out with a lower rank anyway? Did you get demoted?" I asked. He's a really sore loser.

"It doesn't matter. Hey- what are you- freeze!" He stammered out when he saw how close I was.

"What am I going to do, bend to rain into your face?"

The rain and wind bent sharply up, drifting close to Michel's face. It was not enough for what I had in mind, but it would do. Michel was distracted by the sudden reversal of the rain, and I punched him below the chin making him fly up before landing on his back. He was out cold. I felt bad, but only for a moment, when Ceyla struck.

"_How did I miss the giant whip?"_

She had pulled out a giant bullwhip which I narrowly avoided only a few seconds before. She was quick, moving out the whip before I even realized it. However, Jia was smart enough to come up with a flying kick to Ceyla's face, in what should've been a knock-down. Ceyla stopped for a moment to see who had kicked her. While she was distracted I came in and hit her over the head with my cane, only to have her block it and smash it with her free hand.

"Hey! That's a family heirloom jerk!" I screeched as I came at her with a right hook. "Ah ah ah! That hurts!" I cried holding my throbbing hand.

Ceyla was one tough chick, I will give her that. However, it was fortunate that I had snatched Michel's shock pistol earlier. I thought that if he got up, then he wouldn't shoot me if I had his weapon, which is why I grabbed it before I punched him. Ceyla's eyes were on me now, and I have to say, that is prospect that you do not want. They are cold and calculating, like she would happily dissect you. I was glad when Jia roundhouse kicked her across her back. I wasn't so glad when I heard a small pop from Jia's ankle.

"_She's really tough! Way _too _tough! Just shoot her already!"_

I squeezed the handle. Nothing happened. Ceyla gave me a look of deepest contempt.

"Um... do over?" I said feebly.

"_I'm going to die."_

I searched desperately for the trigger. There's got to be one on there somewhere, Michel usually shoots me with this on a regular basis. So, it has to work, right?

"Hurry up!" Jia cried out.

"I don't know how to shoot this thing, so sorry if I can't find the trigger button!" I replied loudly.

I eventually found the trigger, right where it was supposed to be. Jia was weaving behind and in front of Ceyla, attempting to land a good punch.

"Move out of the way!" I didn't have to say it twice for Jia to get it.

"_I hope this works."_

With a prayer on my lips, I pressed the trigger. I aimed for the legs, hoping that the muscles would clench up like when you get tasered. Ceyla gave a shudder, then fell to the ground, still. There was a moment of silence before it registered to both of us. I held up the shock pistol, then threw it far away.

I relieved the tension, "That chick must've been on steroids or something." When no response came from Jia, I said, "Does punching someone usually hurt this much?"

My hand was throbbing in pain. Everything looked okay, so I assumed that I hadn't broken it, but I had better check with the expert on how the punch should feel. The thoughts were sneaking in and I was only distracting myself from the inevitable. I had to look at my broken weapon. It looked so forlorn on stairs.

"Dammit. How am I supposed to collect the insurance on it now?" I feebly attempted to distract myself from the truth.

My cane was broken, the metal was the only part that made it through the fight, the handle was smashed into tiny splinters. I came over and began to pick up the larger chunks and stuffed into my bag. The last thing I picked up was the top, I held it in my hand and stowed it away with everything else.

"_I'm going in without my cane. I have to, I broke it getting this far right? Its gotta mean something. I wish I had backup right now..."_

I got up, flexing everything out to make sure it worked right and wasn't broken.

"We should have gone with backup." Jia said from behind me, echoing my thoughts.

"We can't stop now. We need to keep moving." I said simply.

Jia just nodded, and we entered the palace. The hallways were lit with candles and the walls were painted red. I didn't care though. I just wanted to punch the damn idiot who caused this. The damn idiot had it coming for abandoning his daughter for no good reason, calling the cops who broke my cane, and making this hallway so damn _long_. At last we arrived, wet and cold, but angry just the same. I in particular was not impressed by the way he just stood there in his stupid black cloak like he was some kind of awesome dude.

Jia stumbled down, clutching her foot, I was stupid to not notice how she had been leaning on the wall all this time. I unbuttoned my bag and handed it to her, attempting to smile away the pain.

"Yo, Hellheathen!" I yelled to General Li as I turned on my heel.

"I do not tolerate such vulgar language in my house young lady." He said simply.

"_Deja Vu..."_

With almost a malicious intent I went up to him and grabbed his stupid cloak, revealing my mistake. I had just picked a fight with a tiger who was leaner and stronger looking than his daughter, who looked like he broke bricks for fun, everything about him screamed, 'Come at me bro!' He was _big_. Man, I really have to stop picking fights with big burly dudes. He was even shirtless, wearing only back slacks.

"_Aw come on!"_

"Listen, I'm here to grab the kidnapped bride, maybe knock you senseless, then go home. Let's do this quick, I have a kettle on." I was trying to show that I wasn't scared. I failed.

"_I have a kettle on? I don't even _drink tea_! Worst witty banter ever..."_

I held up my palms to show that I was unarmed, only to have him stiffen in terror.

"_I guess he doesn't like palms."_

He brought up a small bamboo tube, stuffed with a tiny feathered thing.

"_Not again..."_

He aimed it at Jia first.

"Get out Jia! Teleport, do something!" I screamed.

"But-" I stopped her.

"Just go!"

"_Oh, this is going to hurt a lot. Isn't it?"_

In the split second before Jia teleported and when he blew, I leaped between the two, taking the tiny dart in the stomach. Kevlar has a lot of protection, but when the whip came back to Ceyla, it tore through the fabric. I however, thought that it was perfectly fine to use myself as a shield. In the fleeting moment, I knew that it was a good idea to send Jia away with all my stuff. Why? Well, I'll tell you later. For now, I'll just pass out on the floor here.

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Karyra: There you are Michel. Happy now?

Michel: Yes, but did she really _have_ to punch me?

Karyra: Maybe not, but I liked it when she did.

Michel: I'm never talking to you again.

Karyra: At least tell them to review!

*Michel leaves without saying the lines I set up for him to say as this skit ended*

Karyra: Reviews! Send 'em in! Or I may just cut Michel...


	9. Twin Knives

Rei Cooper: Legacy Of Thieves

Chapter 9: Twin Knives

Karyra: Hooray! :D

Rei: What are you so happy about?

Karyra: I dunno.

Rei: Why don't you just get back to the story...

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

When I opened my eyes, I had a killer headache. Oh, and I was tied to a chair in spotlight.

"Geez, you just can't stop injuring yourself, eh Rei?" Said a familiar voice from behind me, but when I tried to turn my head, I didn't see anyone.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" I said, squinting because the light was too bright now, it was getting too bright, making me close my eyes completely.

"Don't tell me you forgot ol' Kenji! Geez Rei!" I gasped in surprise, and the dream vanished, leaving only the last words hanging in the air, but I couldn't even place them, who was it I forgot who was named Kenji?

"_That's it. I'm going insane."_

Doubting that I was in reality, I moved a bit in the darkness, which meant that my dream had either changed or I had woken up for real, hopefully it was latter. Even when I had opened my eyes, the darkness had persisted, leaving me blind and tied up, there was no chair this time. My hands were tied behind me with what felt like rope, but I couldn't tell without seeing it for sure. I bit my lip in frustration, which also served as proof that I had really woken up this time. Why must I always be kidnapped or beaten up? Why can't I just be in and out like a true master thief?

"_I know dwelling on it won't help."_

Jia was safe. I saw her teleport away, even though I was stuck here, with whatever that dart held inside it coursing through my veins. In fact, I was hurting all over, especially my head, which throbbed painfully, like someone was driving a jackhammer through it, which I was sure was caused by the stupid dart. I was pretty sure that if I had been anywhere bright, I would be screaming like a banshee from the light and pain. There was a small bit of light in here, even though I missed it first time around, it was a thin line, stopping only a couple inches from the floor. It was only a foot long, but I attempted to see outside using it.

I leaned forward, and fell towards the door, slamming my entire face against the door, making it complain from the treatment. It was just enough to see that I had fallen the wrong way, and needed to push myself two inches down in order to see anything, but seeing how I was on the floor made it almost impossible to do without snapping my neck.

"Nice job, now maybe I can get shot with another dart, then I would be even better off." I muttered to myself sarcastically.

I stretched out my legs which were not tied down, only to see that the wall on that side had ended a little farther than my knee. Something brushed my face, and it took all my willpower not to scream bloody murder. I rubbed my face where I had felt the thing, hoping that it wasn't a spider or mouse, and found clothes. **(again, how can she rub her face if she's tied up?)** At least, that is what they felt like, the darkness oppressed my sight. I rubbed my face against it some more, it felt like silk, but I couldn't be sure.

"_Am I locked up in a closet?"_

"Oh, someone's going to pay..." I muttered to myself.

Even through my vehemence, I was thinking of ways out. All needed my cane that I had broken while fighting the super-chick, Ceyla. She had the gall to break my cane. Maybe she was just trying to disarm me, I could tell that she hadn't meant to, but I'm still gonna kill her. There was a brief moment of shock on her face, but I might have imagined it, as she is cold and heartless. After all, who breaks a who knows how old cane that has been in my family for... I'm going to just say ever because I can't remember how long. As an interruption to these thoughts, someone landed on me. Whoever it was, was standing on me, shifting their feet around, making me seriously mad.

"Oi, there's a person in here you know!" I said loudly.

"Sorry, trying to find someone, it is like a puzzle in this place." Was that...?

"You mean a labyrinth right?" I replied.

She was gone, I sat in the dark for a long time, but I was joined by two people just as suddenly as the first appeared.

"I get that its a small space, but please get off me. Now would be an okay time." I growled. Time passed and they didn't respond. "Talking to myself will make me seem insane, I know you are there because you are sitting on me. Now kindly _get off._"

"Yup, that is Rei." Said another familiar voice.

"_Is that Bryce?"_

"Now untie me, or get off, whichever." I said.

"I would never have looked inside General Li's closet, what a place to hide a person! Spacious enough to allow movement, but not so much so that they can stand up and leave easily or even escape by simply hiding in a corner." Bryce mumbled on.

Sometimes that mouse needs reminding of priorities.

"Get off of me or I will slap you when I get free." I threatened.

The weight shifted until the two pairs of feet were gone, and the toes were touching me along my back, which was facing what I assumed was the back of the closet. The pressure of the ropes on my arms fell away, along with the ropes themselves. Pushing myself into an upright position was tough because of the tight space, leaving me to wonder how the duo got in without completely squishing me, which also led me to question how they got in at all.

"It's about time!" I screeched at them.

"It has been only one hour." Jia countered.

"Felt like twenty _years_..." I pouted back.

"Excuse me, may I just ask if we can leave the closet now? I can't feel my toes." Bryce tried to say before I felt like I had been yanked by the small of my back to the outside of the closet.

The bright white of the room made me squint my eyes to try and stop the light from blinding me. My headache was fading, but I waited to see what kind of room I was in. When my eyes were finally adjusted to the light, I saw a spartan bedroom, with only a bed and two doors, one I assumed led to a bathroom. The wall to my right looked like it was open to a bamboo forest, but I could see bits of glare on it. I even saw that in the reflection of myself where my suit was torn along the stomach.

"Lot of good you did me you stupid suit." I muttered to it angrily.

"Who are you talking to? I am only other one here until I get Bryce from closet." Jia stated in her strangely english chinese accent.

"I was talking to myself, but how the hell did I get out?" I asked.

"I teleported you, it seems wasteful of my energy, but I can and it was the quickest way." She responded calmly.

"Why don't we just open the closet door?" I said looking at the the plain wooden door that should be able to slide open, "After all, its not that hard to open and shut a door." Jia laughed at me for suggesting this.

"You can not open it without blood of owner." She managed through some of her giggles.

"You are related to General Li." I felt bad once I said it, but it was true.

"He disowned me, I am never supposed to come back. I got lucky when I break first spell on walls, but with this one spell on the closet I can not. It is too tough to break." Jia stated, almost mechanically, like she was only stating facts, not personal secrets.

"Well, don't tire yourself out jumping back and forth so much-" I started.

"I won't tire self out, I will simply use my crystals and warp back and forth, I only have two left though, one for each teleportation. Also, when I teleport, it might seem easier to exit back to my home, but longer distances require more crystals which I don't have. I used most of them getting here, but I can't only take two people at a time." Her accent became more pronounced and her voice was getting tense.

He blipped away, as in one moment she was there the next gone, and returned quickly the same way, leaving my end of the argument invalid. I nodded to Jia and Bryce and me ran to different doors, but I wanted to make sure there were no other exits. I opened the bathroom one, but I shut it before getting a real good look, I had no interest in seeing how his bathroom looked. I ran to Jia and Bryce, both of them giving me strange looks.

"I have a poor sense of direction." I lied. I had really wanted to see where the other one led, just in case.

"Remind me to never let you drive." Bryce chided.

We ran down the hallway, which seemed to never end, but we managed to stop about halfway before Bryce needed a breather.

"Remind me to never let you _run_ to my rescue." I teased, completely fine.

"_Not that we'll be teammates for long enough for that to happen."_

I was still bitter over the fact he had a mom, my Thievius Raccoonus pages, and apparently my cane now too, as Jia probably gave it to him for repairs. It was like a stab in my heart whenever I talked to him like we were friends.

"Rei..." He gasped for breath as he pressed two daggers into my hands which had the shape of the top of my cane on them, a half circle with a line going down a quarter of the way.

The metal looked like my cane, it probably was too with all the nicks and bumps it had to be, and the handles were small chunks of wood with runes and words written upon them. One blade held my name on the blade, etched into the metal. The other was blank.

"Why is this one blank?" I asked Bryce, holding up the blank knife.

"I didn't have all that much time." He had almost caught his breath by now.

"I carve all runes for steady hands, good aim, never losing them, and many other things." Jia chittered, taking the blank one and pointing to each rune in turn.

"I'm telling you, that it will only serve as good luck charm and not actually help her." Bryce argued.

"I told you stupid mouse! They work, how else would you explain my teleport power?" Jia snapped.

"I told you, compact molecular transmogrifier!" Bryce yelled back.

"I do not know how that works!"

"They came out it with it last year twit!"

They argued back and forth using words I had no hope of even spelling right before I broke it up.

"May I remind you two where we are?" I interrupted, "Argue later! We gotta go prove General Li's a criminal."

"We just came to rescue you." Bryce feebly replied.

"Well, then we'll just have to improvise, aren't we?" I replied scathingly. We stood there for a moment. "Anyone know where the treasure room is?" I asked.

"I think I remember seeing it on the blueprints..." Bryce stated.

"Really?" I guessed.

"Well, we won't get anywhere by standing here."

"All right then, let move out."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

I played with my new daggers, spinning them in the air and catching them both. It gave me a bit of confidence, if had to fight General Li, I wouldn't be completely defenseless. We all followed Bryce, making me hope to whoever was up there that we were going to right way, as we ended up at the end of the hallway and from there up what felt like twenty million flights. We were all gasping for breath when Bryce finally stopped.

"Come on, I thought that you guys were tougher than that." Bryce teased, gasping more than the both of us combined.

"And you do twenty million stair steps a day?" I asked between breaths.

I was really tired, but I would need to catch my breath before stealing who know how much in gold, from General Li's treasury. I straightened up and prepared for a fight, knowing my luck that is what would happen. I walked through the doorway, expecting the worst. The gasps for breath suddenly stopped. I saw all of them on the other side of four sets of plexiglass, they were screaming and pointing behind me as well.

"_Dammit! Why do I have to be right all the time?"_

"Why hello there zéi." General Li said cooly.

"How many times do I have to tell you chinese people? My name is _Rei. _There is an r where you keep putting a z." I replied heatedly.

General Li simply rolled his eyes, "I see you still trust the mouse who works for Clock-la." General Li said as he pointed to Bryce.

"I don't think that you should interfere in matters that do not concern you General Li." I said as I threw one of my new daggers at his head.

The old guy had some fight left in him because he snatched it out of the air without batting an eye, he even was going to throw it back.

"_Crap."_

He threw it back with three times more force than I threw it with. I barely dodged it when it came back around, I suppose that was the Jia spell to never be able to lose it made it do that. I grabbed it, but it was by the blade making it cut across three of my fingers. I gritted my teeth and managed to slide my hand down far enough to hold onto the handle.

"I drew first blood, and it is on your own weapon. A shame, I wanted a challenge." He replied coldly, "but I suppose challenging a female is never going to be one."

I spun both of my daggers to pretend that I had more confidence than I actually had. When they stopped, I threw them both, praying that he would do what I hoped. He caught them both as I slid forward underneath the flying daggers and between his legs, followed by sitting up and elbowing back into both his knees. Thankfully, they both buckled knocking him forward and dropping my knives, which both of them zipped back into my hands. My hand was stinging now, signaling that I needed some gauze or something to cover them and stop the bleeding.

It only made me grab the handles of my knives harder, I was not going to be weak or even give up yet, I was going to draw some more blood. Not mine hopefully.

"Bring it on you sexist pig." I growled.

"As you wish." He replied.

He slashed with his knife which he had grabbed from his belt, horizontally aiming for my stomach where I was still exposed, I however, jumped onto his arm and asked, "You love me? I don't think that _Princess Bride_ reference is good for a fight. Do try to come up with some better witty banter please."

"Grah!" He yowled as I lightly slashed the crook of arm.

"Oooh ooh! I got a good one! How about 'My name is Rei Cooper, you killed my father, prepare to die'? Nah, you didn't kill my father..." I leaned to the left as he slashed upward to try and hit me, he nearly did too.

"Would you just shut up? You chatter incessantly!" He growled as he tried kicking at my knees.

"I don't chatter. I engage in witty banter, which you seem to lack the ability to do." I said as I landed lightly on his knee, and landing another shallow slash across his cheek.

"Why don't you hit me with everything you got?" He yelled at last, clutching his cheek and shaking me off his knee managing to make a cut on one of my arms without seeing him move.

"Because," I said tensely, "I am a thief. No. I'm a _master _thief. I take down scum like you, and I don't have to avoid many dumb rules like cops, or kill you to do that." He interrupted my mini-monologue with a punch to my chest. I simply grabbed his fist and used the momentum to flip backwards and kick his face. "Oi! May I remind you that I'm talking here? I'm even having a moment!" A couple more slices across the crook of the elbows.

"Stupid girl..." General Li uttered.

"This 'girl' just kicked your sorry butt." I finished as I twirled around, because I was still on his elbow, and punched him solidly in the face, causing him to at least appear to faint.

I hopped down from his elbow as he fell, landing gently on my feet. I twirled the knives around then hooked both knives in my belt, making sure they were in solidly enough that they wouldn't fall out or stab me in my stomach. I searched the room, feeling about for hidden buttons or switches. In the end there was one near the entrance blocked with plexiglass, and it was in plain sight too. I pushed it and the whole thing slid up, like one of those sliding doors. Although I had defeated him, General Li could still get off on the charges that he should be convicted on. As far as I know in law, not very much mind you, but there was no evidence to tie him to the crimes, it was necessary for them to evidence.

I hunted around the room for the safe I knew he must keep everything inside. This is the typical cocky criminal, think they're totally safe if they place all their goods in well... a safe. I heard something scratching at a wall. It clicked suddenly, there was no door in this room, but somehow General Li came in from a different entrance, that sneaky little sneak! I began to feel around the room again, this time focused on a single wall.

"What the hell are you doing?" Bryce asked when I had combed over the wall for the second time.

"I'm looking for the-" The hidden door finally clicked open. "Hidden door." I smiled proudly, but they all just went past me, into the treasury which held only a small chest of treasure. "Really? All of that for that?" I was in despair.

"That guy must not be a big thief." Bryce commented.

"That guy, he must be a thief!" Jia yelled at the same time as Bryce, she even ran to the old chest, decorated with enough dust to make a life sized Godzilla. I didn't see what se was so excited about, but I followed her anyway.

"What is so exciting about that dusty old chest?" As proof I rubbed a finger along the raised edge on top. It came away with almost an inch of dust. When I noticed this I promptly rubbed my finger on Bryce's shoulder when he came up next to me.

"This chest is stolen from village, it is very ancient. Three thousand years old I think." Jia finally said.

"Really? This thing looks like its been sitting here gathering dust for about the same amount of time." I replied.

"No we reported it missing only little time ago. I made the report myself." Jia had this hungry look in her eyes.

"Well, we got our evidence, lets go!" I said as I prepared to run out.

"No it holds many magic items that could make me better at-" I think I saw her drool a little.

I came up and slapped her on the back of the head.

"What in the hell do you think we are doing here, ravage his house for goodies? No, we are here to get him arrested for a very long time. Let's go already." I knew I sounded like hypocrite, but quite frankly, if that was the treasure I came in here to steal, well then we should leave it, the thing was _way _too easily located, plus, I couldn't handle the thing without getting dust all over myself.

Jia didn't move, so I was ultimately forced to drag her out by her ear. The time passed quickly as we went from the top floor to the bottom, but I was forced to stop dragging Jia by the third floor, who began to mutter under her breath. I also managed to escape the notice of the cops who had an 'anonymous' call about a stolen chest and girl inside this palace. I think I saw Michel stalking around the walls, but somehow he looked just a little off. Before I could figure out what it was he looked my way and I ran like my tail was on fire.

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

*Karyra collapses from exhaustion*

Bryce: Two shots of squee. Stat!

Murph: She twitching...

Jia: Can I set her on fire?

Rei: She's writing this, you can't do that! What's with you and fire?

Karyra: Oh my gosh!

Bryce & Murph: What?

Karyra: You are almost never in these things!

Bryce: She's hallucinating isn't she?

Murph: Nope.

Rei: Strange...

*All but Karyra leaves*

Karyra: I thought you cared!


	10. Musings From Happy Camper's Orphanage

Rei Cooper: Legacy Of Thieves

Chapter 10: Musings From Happy Camper's Orphanage

Not even a day after the General Li take down, I began to pack and leave the village. It was not without notice that Jia began to pack as well. I decided it was in my best interest to find out what she was up to.

"Hey Jia." I said as I walked into the room. Jia was busy packing and mumbled to herself constantly.

"Hello Rei." Jia said, after looking at a jar and nodding as if she was talking to it. "Eye of newt..." She said as she began to sort through the nastier vials.

"Um, why are you packing?" I said.

"I owe you." At my look she continued, "You took the dart that probably was filled with poison, willingly, I owe you a life debt which can only be repaid with another act of equal importance. I am not your slave, but I will do as you ask, until such an opportunity arises to repay you for that act." She finished by examining a mysterious liquid which I was sure had eyes that were looking at me.

"_Well, I'm not sure if you could call it saving her life. After all, I woke up fine only an hour later."_

Needless to say, I left the room and tried to preserve what I could of my lunch. We would be packing until tomorrow morning, seeing how we could now drive away in some spiffy cars provided to us by the villagers for retrieving the Siren's chest. Which was the thing Jia was drooling over in the palace; no wonder they left it alone for all those years, especially with a name like that. I was going to leave early, taking only some items and the Thievius Raccoonus.

I couldn't stay, the words General Li said before I fought him were still ringing in my head, _"I see you still trust the mouse who works for Clock-la..."_ There was fear in his eyes, faint, but it was there all the same.

If Clock-la is this scary thing that I don't even know what it looks like, then I feel like I need to stay away from Bryce, after all he did betray me. At least I think so, but tonight I would get the truth and leave.

_Thump._

"Ow..." I said as I rubbed my face, I had run into a wall while thinking. I was getting clumsy.

"_This is getting silly, I need to find somewhere to practice and get my head out of the clouds."_

I entered the kitchen, I was supposed to cook tonight, to make up for the fact I had lost my cane to the heist's very own hitch. Ceyla. That chick was metallic and cold. When I find her... almost running into a counter gave me perspective; right now I need to make dinner, not plot revenge schemes. The question here was, what to make? I don't usually make anything other than mac and cheese. Thankfully, Jia had left out a cookbook containing simple dishes.

I went to go wash my hands, but left on the counter was the two items that had been shoved into my arm by Jia, it was ignorance on my part, considering that there was a sign over the door. What concerned me most was the fact that the blood looked like it had been scraped off. I didn't know what to make of this, but I was forced to focus on making dinner, or Murph would probably come in and rant at me until I made dinner. Murph could get like that if I didn't feed him quickly.

"_Hard to think that I would even think about what I'm going to do about a week ago."_

It was true, I wouldn't be far off to see that the old me would be offended by giving Bryce a truth serum made by the resident witch. Jia didn't know what I was going to do, but she warned me off about it. I touched it in my bag, I didn't want to take my bag off, not when I could be betrayed at any moment. I had also begun stitching a bag that could be slung across my back so that I could reach my daggers. I only had some scraps, but they were working well. I finished washing my hands and proceeded to chop up some leek. I followed the recipe for stir fry, and a few burns later, it was done.

"Soup -er- Stir fry's on!" I cried as I carried the heavy pot out of the kitchen.

There were many cries for the food, and once they had eaten some I asked them how it was.

Jia was first. "It needs much less salt." She said.

"I didn't add any." I replied. She gagged at this.

Bryce was next, but I saw him rush off to the bathroom, as planned. Murph just attempted to hide the food inside a fake plant, while humming mission impossible, I let him get away with it.

The Stork simply smiled. "This is better than my daughter when she doesn't use magic."

Well, I'm glad to say I didn't kill anyone when they ate it. Which is a plus, but I needed to corner Bryce soon.

"I'll go check on Bryce." I said, getting up. I don't know why, but I think I saw a jealous look from Jia. When I looked back I saw her fiercely eating her dinner.

I walked out to where I saw him go, silently, hoping that I could catch him before he reentered the living room once more. I heard the sink run, and I knew I would need to act soon. More tense than a piano string about to snap, I waited.

"Rei? What are you doing out here?" I heard him say before I struck from the back, pressing the syringe into his shoulder while holding his mouth shut.

"_This is crazy! What if he isn't a traitor?"_

I took a breath before starting the questions. Bryce, however, still struggled. I needed to find somewhere quiet and out of the way. Bryce's room would work, I just needed to lock it shut by using a conveniently placed dresser. I dragged him, almost losing most of my toes, to his room and tied him up using a rope I had placed inside my bag beforehand.

"_Yes or no questions only, that's what Jia said. Works for only a few minutes and they won't remember anything after the injection or was it something about passing out?"_

"All right, are you working for someone who I don't know?"

"Yes." The reply was out of his mouth before he could even bite his lip to stop it.

"Did you have continuous contact with this person?" I took a minute to come up with this question, I didn't think it would work.

"Yes." He replied, even when he bit his lip, his lip would work itself free.

"Were you ever aware of this Clock-la before it was mentioned in the Thievius Raccoonus?" I asked.

"Yes." He thrashed around in his ropes, he was glancing around, searching for a way out.

"How long have you been aware of Clock-la?" I asked at last, feeling stupid for not asking a yes or no question.

Luckily, the sedative in the serum, I really have to ask Jia how she does it, had kicked in and he fell over. I untied him and went back out into the living room.

"Bryce needs to rest for some time. I will go to sleep early too, I want to leave quickly." I said, exiting the room for the last time in a long time. I went to my/Jia's room, and snatched up my bag, a plan of mine finally going great until...

"Rei, where are you going?" Jia was there in the doorway, a disapproving scowl on her face.

"Midnight stroll. I enjoy the cool night air." I replied, knowing that it would fail epically, especially considering that I was hanging out a window.

"With your bag?" She crossed her arms.

"Umm, just in case someone attacks me-"

"I mean your luggage."

She got me and she knew it, but much rather than yell for everyone, she grabbed the bag full of vials, clothes, and whatever else she fit in there. She even stood behind me, nearly pushing me off the windowsill.

"Well, are you going or not?" She hissed.

I pushed myself the rest of the way out, sliding down the slanted roof as I went, and landed where I was supposed to be. Jia landed with a clearly audible thump behind me. I face-palmed at this.

"_Why is Jia following me? It's not like she owes me or- oh yeah, that life debt thing. Well, this ruins my plans."_

Jia then promptly hot-wired that car, and told me to get in. I held up the keys that the villagers gave me this morning.

"_When I get home, I'm gonna fake drown so she can leave me alone."_

This plan was gonna be ruined if Jia drove like crazy, and almost sensing this, she let me take the wheel. Now, I don't know if you know this, but I can't drive stick. Guess what the car was. Yes, it was the only thing I can't drive, other than a plane. I almost threw my face against the steering wheel in agony.

"_It can't be that hard right? Right?"_

Fearfully, I placed my hand upon the small stick with the line and letters upon it. I really _was_ going to die this time. I put it into first, hoping that it would start, and gingerly pressed the gas pedal. It revved softly. Engine would be too loud.

"_Dammit. How could I have forgotten? Okay, I'll just find a way to leave really fast, what gear is that again?"_

I hadn't noticed, but Jia had been rummaging in her bag, and found what she was looking for. It was a hay doll roughly the size of my fist, and Jia was thrilled to have found it.

"Move, if you can not drive, then I have something that will." Jia said, still grinning.

I obliged, I've learned to not get in her way, it usually gets a chopstick in your arm. Jia placed the little doll on the seat, before I could even wonder how it could drive when it didn't have thumbs, it grew in size. It was big enough to make me wonder how we would get away with having a giant hay doll for a driver and not get pulled over. Jia rubbed her palms after I saw her pull out a mysterious herb, and chanted, it was a language I couldn't understand, in other words, not in english.

"_Silencio nito motoris..._"Jia muttered, when she got like this, I couldn't help but be uneasy.

The doll pulled expertly on the thing I vaguely remembered as a shift boot, or maybe that was the rubber coating... well, it pulled on it expertly and we pulled away from the house. It was all quiet, there wasn't a noise coming from the engine, not even a sputter. I didn't dare ask Jia, I even cowered beneath the backseat, afraid of receiving another chopstick in my arm. A long time after we got out of the driveway, the engine came back into sounding like a tiger, at least, that's what it sounded like to me. After all that quiet, you would have jumped too.

"Wǒ tóuténg... Wǒ bù yìng gāi yǒngyuǎn zuò yībiàn..." Jia muttered to herself.

"What?" I asked.

"Not so loud please..." She asked.

"How did you know that I was trying to be quiet? I didn't exactly say it." I asked.

"You were climbing out a window, that sounds like you wanted to leave without interruption. I don't know why you would leave poor Fēi mó and Yìshù hémǎ behind, are they not your gang?"

"You mean Bryce and Murph? I left Bryce because I can't trust him," Jia looked out the window at that moment. "I left Murph because..."

I didn't have an answer for that, I just couldn't be sure that he was a traitor, but I felt that I had to, if I had asked if he wanted to leave Bryce he would refuse and stay. A bump in the road made up for a lack of an answer.

"Does this guy have any superpowers? Will he shoot down my enemies?" I asked, seemingly out of the blue. I knew better, I was avoiding the subject.

"No... he can drive almost anything, but the one casting the spell must have some knowledge of how the machine works. It is very hard spell to cast, I hope you are thankful, now I must rest. Wake me when we get there." Jia nodded off at that point, handing me a small fang before she was completely out.

"_What the hell am I supposed to do with this?"_

The drive felt like it went on forever. At last we arrived at the airport, I woke Jia by dropping the little straw man on her face. It had shrunk when we arrived at the location I had told it earlier. We stole some tickets, I managed to steal some wigs from my bag, I am a thief after all, and clothes from some of the lockers. I looked like a punk rocker, I even scored the headphones for it. Jia, well... she looked like an old cat lady. I even found in lost and found a stuffed cat, add a purse, we looked like grandma and granddaughter. The only issue remaining was to find a passport which we could use.

_Bzzt._ I had forgotten that I had packed the comm along with my gear on autopilot. I could see where this was going. Fearful for my life, I lifted the small piece of plastic and wires to my ear.

"_WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!_" I had to move the comm away from my ear, the yelling was so loud. "_MURPH IS CURRENTLY CRYING IN THE CORNER, THINKING THAT YOU ARE KIDNAPPED! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?_" He went on to rant for what seemed to be about a minute, but he never lost his volume.

When he finally stopped ranting, people were giving me strange looks. I replied calmly, "Chill out. It's only fair. After all, you did betray me." With that I crunched the comm between my fingers, leaving it on the floor.

"_No more of that."_

I walked to the terminal, snatching a pair of passports, leaving some money in the pockets of whom I took them from.

"Why were you over there with the piece of plastic yelling at you?" Jia asked under her breath while we were in line.

"It was nothing. You don't really need to know, just enjoy the flight... grandma." Jia shot me a dirty look at 'grandma'.

"Where are we going?" Jia asked, we were nearing the end of the line.

"We are going to Washington D.C. in Maryland." I replied.

Jia nodded, I didn't tell her that she would probably have to hunt for food and we wouldn't be doing much. I didn't say anything the whole trip there, I was going for downtime and, thinking about how we first met on the plane, a small smile came unbidden to my face.

It had been ten years ago, about a day after Mrs. Waizutatoru welcomed me into the orphanage. It was still raining, pouring even. I felt like I was missing someone, but I couldn't remember who, as a child I ignored the feeling, but I wouldn't be lonely for long.

"Hey what's this?" Bryce was small for kids his age, he was often picked on, and he had hoped that a newcomer would be easy to pick on. Me.

"Let go. It's my Dad's!" I screamed at him.

"It's mine now. Bleeh!" He said as he ran out of the room with my cane dragging behind him.

I ran after him, which I remember as a long chase, but could have been a short distance, considering that the chase ended with him trying to drag the heavy cane away. I lifted it with more strength than the normal ten year old would normally muster.

"I-I'm sorry. They just keep picking on me... I though that if I could be tough then they would stop." He said after I took the cane from him.

He was crying, to my ten year old eyes, it seemed impossible. Boys didn't cry, they made you eat worms and picked on you lots.

"Where are they?" I asked. I just wanted him to stop crying on me, and I thought that I if I could beat them up they would leave him alone, which would make him stop crying on me.

He refused to tell me, so I went hunting, in other words I challenged all of the older boys, asking them if they picked on him. Most refused, but the last I asked was about my age, I remember him with black clothes and tattoos, even though Mrs. Salutatorian had rules against it and he was underage. He smiled and said yes, and as proof, he took my cane.

"You know that stealing is wrong right?" I asked him. I would smile at that sentence coming out of my mouth, even as a ten year old

"And, what are you going to do about it squirt?" He replied.

"I'm gonna beat you up, punk." I was so cute when I was little.

The guy laughed, but gave me back the cane, telling me to never lose that ferocity. I snorted, but left. I made Bryce tell me who was picking on him by telling him I beat up a seventeen year old that day. At night I made my plans, which mostly involved beating the little jerk up. To my ten year old mind, it was an evil, no, _diabolical_ plan. The next morning we lined up for breakfast of toast and waffles, but I was going to pinpoint my target, I was too focused to do silly things like eat. Bryce whimpered some, but stayed behind me.

"Yo we got a new runt to pick on, what your name, never mind that. I'll call you Scruffy!" The large mandarin monkey laughed at his own dimwittedness.

"What's Bryce's nickname?" I asked, curious.

"Band-aid! He bleeds easy!" He laughed.

"My name is Rei, but I like Scruffy. I think 'Scrapper' is better though." I said, totally oblivious to Bryce's shaking.

"Why would that be Scruffy?"

"I'm a scrappy little guy." I was never contested to be a girl after this fight, like me, most boys assumed that girls wore skirts and liked flowers.

I put up my fists, but Monkey simply laughed. You know... I never learned his name, I've always called him Monkey. Anyway, I threw the first punch to his stomach. I never made the punch connect, but when he grabbed my hand I swung around my legs to knock down his knees. I simply giggled, someone taught me this move, but for the life of me, I can't remember who.

"That's why I like Scrapper better." It was my nickname through all of the Orphanage.

Bryce came up to me and shook my hands, he thought that his thanks couldn't expressed in a single handshake, he even said that I was toughest guy he had ever met. He showed me some of his inventions, which were a miniature car that was made out of pipe cleaners which rolled by itself, a min-helicopter which could fly from used paper, and a megaphone made from toilet paper tubes and spare plastic.

"You like it? I was thinking we could execute it later, if you want..." Bryce muttered.

It was almost a year after I met Bryce that I met Murph. By then we had gotten along fabulously, he taught me about machines and the like, I taught him how to hit things really hard. You may think that it wasn't a fair exchange, but it was harder on each of us than you would think. I didn't understand the principle of forward momentum or even how an engine worked without help, while Bryce would throw a punch then cower in fear.

That changed when Murph arrived though. When he arrived, the lion was larger than Monkey, sparing him the humiliating nicknames, however he was fearsome and would often be left alone. I was walking past his room when I herd he unmistakable sound of crying. I peeked in to find that his paints had been taken from him. I had almost forgotten that he was a great painter.

"It's okay..." I patted him on the back not knowing exactly what to do.

"Mom gave me that paint... what am I going to do now?" He whimpered.

He had never talked much about his dad, only his mother, who gave him the paints. That was all he had ever said on the topic, other than they both died in the car accident, about nine years later. I could speculate on the subject, but I don't think I could get it right in Murph's eyes. Even at nearly eleven years old I understood why he would want to have his paint back. I had even taken to hiding my cane under my bed.

"Was it that bully, that monkey?" I asked. Murph gave a half nod.

I went off to go beat up Monkey again, but once I had gotten there it was too late, some unsuspecting family was going to take him. I wasn't going to back down, and decided to find the address to go hunt down the missing paint. Mrs. Waizutatoru didn't realize it was gone. I had managed to find a way to leave the orphanage without rising attention, bring along the guy who had told me to hold onto my ferocity. I later learned his name, Ken. Ken apparently was able to guard me better than _I_ could, or something either way, I told him my plan, and he was trying to suppress a grin the whole time. When I had finished, he smiled and told me that it would work.

My plan consisted of one thing, and it was a key; he gave me my first lock picking kit to fix the problem. In my year at the Orphanage, I had learned that sometimes it was okay to steal only if it was to take back something stolen. This plan was part of the rule. The plan went off well, I managed to get inside with my cute little face, my cookies, and managed to find and take back the paint It didn't take long to get back to the orphanage from there. Muph was overjoyed at the fact he had his paint back, and I had gotten a taste for thievery. It was a win-win all around. Although I never saw Ken around the Orphanage again, Murph gave me a painting of myself a week later, we became steadfast friends, at least that's what I thought when I was ten.

What could have changed to have made us all enemies, fighting on different fronts? Jia was drooling on my shoulder, but I didn't mind. I suppose, it was time to go it alone. The ground below us in the plane was familiar, as I was ready to head back home, even if it was only for a little while.

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Karyra: Okay, as much as I really didn't want one, here's a flashback chapter, don't hurt me!


	11. Goodbye Jia

Rei Cooper: Legacy Of Thieves

Chapter 11: Goodbye Jia

Karyra: Okay, this chapter might be a little shorter than I usually write, but enjoy anyway!

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

I was awake when we touched down. I had barely slept a wink, but I felt lonely without Bryce and Murph. _They_ were my team, _not_ Jia. While it was nice to have someone else with me, I needed to be alone for the time being. So I did the sensible thing, I decided to tell her to leave. Yes, I knew it would be a lonely road ahead if I did that, but I just couldn't rope her into my affairs like that, it wouldn't be fair. I was quiet while Jia drove.

"_So much has happened that I'm surprised that I could even process it all, much less make a decision like this..."_

"You have been really quiet, what's up with you? It's the airplane food isn't it?" Jia said.

"_She joined me all the way to America, it wouldn't be fair to send her back now."_

"Nothing a little rest can't fix." I replied.

"_Maybe she should stay, just until I'm ready to steal again, then she can be asked to leave."_

Jia smiled at me, and I smiled back, happy to have the temporary company. Once we arrived at the hotel, a teenage cat greeted us, well more like she was absorbed in read this book with an apple on the cover and music blaring in her ears. After what seemed to be full game of charades, Jia managed to take out her headphones.

"Tiān nǎ!" Jia screamed. "Can we just get a room for a few nights?"

"Yeah sure, just go on up. Here's the key. Have a nice night and whatever." She resumed reading her book, which had the words Twilight on it.

"_I have been away too long when apples and twilight start to come together and make sense."_

I shrugged it off, it was only a book after all, and I hadn't read it, so I really shouldn't care. I lugged my stuff up to our room and stretched out on the dusty old bed. This hotel may not be the fanciest, but it was out of the way enough to keep anyone from suspecting a world famous thief would stay here.

"Well, what now? Do we just sit here and rest? Or do we just wander around town for awhile?" Jia asked.

"I have a place to be, don't follow." I said, it was a little harsh, but this was a place I wanted to be alone. I don't think she would understand.

"All right, just don't get into trouble." Jia said.

I smiled, grabbed the key from her and left. The teenager at the counter mumbled something, but I didn't catch it. I reached the car, grateful that I could at least drive automatic. I started up the car and drove to the real reason I was here. Happy Camper's Orphanage. I wanted to be as far away from this new Bryce. From Murph even, I just wanted it to be the way it was, before the stupid book ruined it all. At last I arrived, the old place threatening to fall in now that no orphans were there anymore. The old orphanage had closed down on my eighteenth birthday. I put the car into park and walked up to the doorway, which had long since fallen away into a large gap in the floor.

It didn't matter though, I only saw the door I arrived at ten years ago. I only saw it how it _was_, not how it is now, old and threatening to fall in. I walked up the steps, which were mostly intact and lowered down the ladder to the attic. It creaked under my weight, but it held fine, allowing me to climb up and open a window from the inside of the attic. I pressed myself against the small edge, allowing me to walk along it without falling. If I remembered right, there should have been a low angle roof which would let me climb to the top and sit there.

I came upon it quicker than I thought, but it was there all the same. I smiled, it was my thinking spot, where I would go if I needed to think about things, I had used it one other time, but this was where to go if you needed to think or anything like that. It had a calming air to it, like it was where newton had the apple fall on him. I sat down on the risen edge of the roof, where one side met the next, and simply closed my eyes.

I opened them again, but only saw what it was like ten years ago. The rain was coming down hard, but I didn't feel it, only that something was missing. There was more to this story, but the pages were long gone. Why? Why were they missing? It was like someone came down and reached inside my mind only to pull out all of my memories before the orphanage. It wasn't that I didn't want to see them, just that they were missing, but the dreams told me some of the story. A person, something about my parents and death, and Ceyla. I hadn't seen her in my dreams, but the first time I met her shook me to my core without a particular reason. I pulled my knees up to my chest, starting to shiver from the cold.

"Haven't been here for a while."

"_No way. Was that-"_

I turned to see Michel Fox, no it only looked like him, Michel was built stockier, and much more muscled. This guy had the thin arms of a thief. He didn't seem to be here to do any harm, all the same, I reached back into the backpack that I used to store my knives.

"Woah! There's no need for violence here! I'm just here for the quiet. And the cherry blossoms, they are really visible here." He bailed.

"Hmph." I grunted, completely ignoring him.

"You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses! No wait-" He said.

"How do you know about Bryce!" I growled, quickly getting to my feet.

When we were sparring, Bryce would bail out by saying that. No one knew that I was from the Orphanage, I had taken those files from InterPol a long time ago, even changed them throughly so they said I was from Armpit Nevada. I had taken extensive measures to keep my life here from them.

"I was here and remember you." He threw his hands up in a sign of submission.

"Yeah right." I tightened my grip on the knives.

"Glad to see that ferocity never abated." I took a step back, almost like it had hit me like a physical blow.

"_T-they told me that he died or something like that, he's lying. How did he find out about Ken?"_

The step back had set me on a sharper sloped roof, which orphans dubbed the 'Splatter', and I was going to fall about three stories down. I snatched at the rotting tiles as I fell, but they crumbled in my hands. I slid faster and faster down the roof, knowing that no amount of skill would save me now, when I realized that I still had my knife. I stabbed the one knife I had managed to hold onto when I fell, the other was sitting on the other side. It held, but it couldn't take weight. It was sliding down slowly, but once I ran out of roof, I would run out of luck. I flailed my feet around searching for a foothold.

"_Must look _so _dignified like this."_

"Take this!" The random fox guy shouted from the other side as a rope flew towards me.

"Seriously, a rope? Where that hell did that come from?" I yelled, closing my eyes, hoping that the end would be quick and painless.

"You always were stubborn weren't you? Ugh. Just take the stupid rope and live!" He shouted.

"_Might as well, I have no other choices."_

I took a deep breath and grabbed the rope with one hand while pulling out the knife with the other. With a short _shink_ it came out and was pulled up. As the edge came closer I reached up and grabbed it with both hands, pulling myself up to safety. I gasped for a breath that I hadn't realized that I was holding.

"I am _never_ going bungee jumping." I said, once we both recovered our gear.

"I did it once, don't get the thrill." He smiled, I frowned.

"So, where did you go after the Orphanage?" I asked accusingly.

"I went off to-" He face-palmed. "I'm not supposed to talk about it."

"Like Fight Club?" I asked, leading him off topic.

"Yeah, like Fight Club." He smiled.

"Why are you here anyway? You just show up, get me falling off a roof, and expect me to be all simpatico towards you?" I glanced at him.

"It's in my best interest to not tell you." He said, avoiding my eyes.

"It's in mine to know." I pleaded.

"No, not really." He replied coolly.

"Aw come on! Just a little hint..." I was begging.

"I told you, no." He finished, laughing.

"Fine." I pouted.

"Well, I gotta go. Say hi to Jia for me!" He waved over his shoulder as he left.

"_Arrogant little dude isn't he?"_

"I will not!" I yelled back.

"_Once again, I am the master of comebacks."_

I stayed there for some time, trying to come back to my train of thought, but it was useless. That train left the station a long time ago. I sighed, standing up again, avoiding the edge like to plague. I walked back downstairs, catching a whiff of a long dead possum and running faster to avoid it. Once I got out to the car, I shifted my weight around on the seat until I was comfortable, then drove back to the hotel. The teenager had fallen asleep, snoring on her book. I rode the elevator back up to the room and used the key to enter.

"You look like crap. Please go take a shower." Jia said as I entered.

"_Nice to have some sympathy from the witch."_

I complied, and after a nice, long, hot shower I came out to see that Jia was hiding her hand behind her back.

"Jia, do we need groceries? We might be here a while." I calmly said I saw cockroach.

"_I'm definitely not getting anything from the kitchens here."_

"Umm, maybe." Jia checked her bag, looking at one jar then another.

"Jia, we are going shopping, I don't want toad's liver for dinner." I said as I hunted through my clothes for some decent clothes that wouldn't make me stand out too much.

"Okay, any requests for food?" Jia said, "Not that I know American food, but maybe we could get some of that organic fruit or something."

I pulled out a black shirt and some jeans, and checked my wallet. "Okay, but we'll have to pickpocket some people on the way, I'm running low on coin and organic fruit is expensive." I remembered that I had to stay out of sight. "Oh, and we may have to go to a gas station, I don't think they have fruit, much less the organic kind."

She scowled, but there was no other way to get funds quickly, and I had no intention of working, not only would it make me vulnerable and seen in public. Plus, I don'tdo mondays. We walked out of the hotel, the teenager asleep, and made it to the car. I quickly turned it down.

"Why shouldn't we take the car?" Jia growled.

"I wanna walk to the store, it's not that far away, what's the worst that could happen to a master thief and witch?" Jia kinda smiled, but it was mostly concern. For whom was she concerned?

The walk was somewhat uneventful, other than Jia almost set on fire a couple of trash cans that rattled on the way, scaring off potential victims, she seemed awful jumpy. We arrived at the gas station, the one stop shop for all of the needs of a master thief. No cameras actually worked in this place, which is why it was so perfect. What didn't make it perfect was that it was held up almost every night for its lack of cameras. Why they hadn't put them in yet was a mystery, probably that they didn't have the funds.

I looked though the goods. It wasn't much, some instant ramen, some soda, they even had a decent pair of sunglasses. I hummed as I walked through the isles, glad to be doing something at least semi-normal. I am glad to say it was going well I didn't take anything like a common thief, that is, until the place got held up again. I sighed, watching it all happen.

"Give us all your cash!" The man yelled.

"_Let's see if you get away with it."_

I slipped out to let the air of their tires, and placing a short call to 911 with my best anonymous voice, "Police, they're taking from this store! T-they have guns. It's on route eleven, you can't miss it, big sign, and gas pumps up front." I flipped the burn phone shut, throwing it into the trash can.

Except that I had forgotten something, no, some_one_. Jia. I saw her walk out into the front of the store, bag of Cheetos in hand. I suppose when she saw the robber she usually would run away, but for some reason, she put down the Cheetos and put herself into a defensive stance.

"_Dammit Jia."_

I cursed as I ran in, using a flying tackle to take him down.

"You don't fight people with guns, I do that." I said as I pinned him down using some zip ties the clerk handed me.

"Excuse me, are you a police officer or something?" The clerk asked.

"_Dammit."_

"I'm with InterPol, deep undercover. You never saw this okay?" I lied quickly.

"Where's your ID?" He asked.

"What part of _deep_ undercover don't you understand?" I replied.

"Can I at least get your name?" He asked.

"_Double dammit."_

"Jianne Fox." I mentally crossed my fingers, hoping he'd buy it.

"All right." He relented.

I thanked my lucky stars that this guy didn't ask to talk about famous criminals such as myself. We even got our groceries on the house, and as we walked back we chatted and laughed about the whole event that had just passed.

"Why didn't you just back down? I called the police and you could have just waited it out." I quizzed.

"It wasn't right to let him get away with robbing the place." She held her head down, hiding it in the shade of the bag she was holding.

"You have a point, but Jia, I had it in hand until to you almost messed it up by engaging that guy, you almost got shot. You're not bulletproof you know." I chided.

"Fine, but I had to. I'll tell you why when we get back to the hotel." I figured it was a breakthrough, and that I should let her tell me.

I never got the chance to find out what she was going to say, because then, a single shot rang out. Loud and clear in the night, first I checked Jia, knowing that I was okay. Her eyes were wide, and her bag dropped to the ground spilling out chip bags and sodas. Her hand moved to her heart, where a large wet stain was slowly spreading across her shirt, staining it red. There was no cry for help from me, and only a small chuckle from her.

I looked around for the shooter, hunting for the silhouette that had pulled the trigger. This felt so unreal, this happened in movies and to old people. It felt so distant to me.

"Dammit, Jia don't you dare die on me!" I yelled at her as I turned around.

I pressed my hands to the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, but it kept flowing. It went between my fingers, coating them in her blood. I tried not to cry, but I felt helpless, I could do nothing to stop her from...

"_No, she's tough, she'll live! Don't think like that!"_

"Call... an ambulance..." Jia rasped.

"Right, should you do it or me." I smiled, but grimaced in pain soon after. "Right. I-I'll get right on that." Was trying to fool myself more than her, trying to tell myself that it would be all right.

I reached into my bag, but I had thrown away the only phone I had. Tossed it away before I realized I could have held onto it, no should have held on to it. Silly, I know, but if I had kept it I could have saved Jia. I could have saved the only friend that I could trust.

"I... need to tell you..." She started.

"Save your strength, you'll need it to get out of the hospital later." I said, ripping the leg of my jeans off to make and impromptu bandage.

"No... I need... to tell you about... Clock-la..." I pressed the bandage harder down.

"You can wait, you'll make it." I replied, she used some deep recess of strength to grab my shirt.

"Clock-la... killed your father... your grandfather... nearly took you brother... and killed me..." She shut her eyes, as if to take it all in, "Kill her core. Kill what makes her go on... kill the blueprints and the-"She began to cough, and I pressed the bandage harder to the wound trying to to stop the blood from coming out, taking her from life.

"Dammit, I told you that you can't die on me!" I yelled at her.

"I'm not... trying to." Her voice was barely a whisper now.

"Well, try not to! I need someone... don't leave me. Please don't. I'll be alone." I began to cry, something I rarely did.

"You're never alone Rei, you have Bryce... when you see him, tell him that I though he was cute..." She began to cough again, but stopped, trying to continue talking. "I would have liked to have spend more time with him..."

"Don't talk like that. In a week you'll be fine, laughing with me in the hospital." I chided, tear flowing freely now.

"Clock-la wanted you to suffer, so don't. When I'm dead-"

"I told you not to talk like that!"

"When I'm dead," She continued. "I want you to kill her... and tell her that she is unnatural, and that she needs to let go of her rage... become what she should have been years ago..." She coughed some more.

"How do you know all this? You aren't old enough to have been there yourself." I said, wondering how I could remain so calm when the only person I could trust was dying.

"I was told this by... the panda king... while I was... wandering... after Dad disowned me... I was happy to learn this... but I was told only about Clockwerk **(not sure if this typo was on purpose)**by him... a strange person came... and told me the rest... I can't tell you who... but they told me all about it... almost as if they knew... I would meet you." Seeing my tears she added, "Don't cry... when I'm gone... and spread me over China, so I can be home at last..." She rasped each breath out, and as she finished... she smiled. "Shēnghuó de hěn hǎo, ruì kù pò.,." With that, she closed her eyes, a long rattling breath as the final period on her life story.

"Goodbye Jia..." I said between rattling breaths, trying to stop the tears from coming.

Time passed quickly, the sirens came, but I was deaf to them. I could still save Jia, all I had to do was get her breathing again. The offcials said there was nothing I could do, but I kept on trying. Then there was the numbness I felt when they finally dragged me away. I ached with the emptyness, trying to make sense of it. They told me ot would get better, they told me that the pain would go away. How could it? Espcially when it was my fault, I could have done something, heard the sniper, took the bullet.. something. Better than yell at a dying person, who knew they were dying, and told me so.

It was even on the news, 'girl dies from bullet wound'. As if it did any sort of justice to the chinese girl who came to america because I saved her life. It wasn't even that, it was me doing something stupid. What was worse was I couldn't even take revenge, I had no idea what Clock-la looked like, much less how to get her blueprints.

"_I failed you Jia..."_

*`*`*Blue auras*`*`*

Karyra: I'm... just going to cry now... )': Please review, or Jia's sacrifice will be in vain.


	12. Bullets

Rei Cooper: Legacy Of Thieves

Chapter 12: Bullets

Jia had been dead for three days. I had moved hotels, gotten rid of the bloody clothes, and only now did the heavy weight of what just happened fall on me. I didn't cry, I didn't even do anything. I just felt like crap. The worst part was that one damn question.

"_What _now_?"_

My friends were gone, Jia was shot, and I had nowhere to go. As if in answer to my prayers there was a knock at the door. I went over to look in the peephole, and immediately took back those prayers. It was Bryce and Murph.

"Go away..." I said as I collapsed upon a bunch of pillows, not letting them inside.

"Rei, we know that you're in there... please come out." Bryce pleaded, his voice muffled by the door.

I could only hear the wind up for a cry. God, anything but that... Murph began warbling, and I caved and opened the door.

"Ten minutes." I said.

"What the hell happened you?" He pointed out my hair and baggy clothes.

I narrowed my eyes. "Jia's dead."

Murph just gave me a look, it was full of shock and ache. The same look that I knew was on my face when she died.

Bryce came inside, "Wha-what happened?"

"She was shot. Now leave." I said, a little harshly.

"Rei..." Bryce began before I shut the door in his face.

"_No more...I-I just can't take it anymore."_

My world was gone, everything I knew was gone, and I had a Dad that I barely remembered. I was alone. There was another knock at my door.

"I told you!" I said as I stomped angrily to the door, "Leave me the hell alone!"

When I opened the door, it was Ceyla.

"Here to arrest me?" I asked, giving her the best death glare I could make.

"No, quite the contrary actually. I'm here to hire you." She replied as she strode in and sat on the hotel's bed.

"Gee, come in... sit down... put up your feet..." I mumbled as I closed the door.

"You know about Clockwerk right?" At my blank stare she tried to explain this Clockwerk guy to me. "You know... big metal bird, out to get you and your family out of jealousy and hate?" She rolled her eyes at my continued blank stare. "Okay, something odd years ago, your Dad smashed him up real good, into pieces in fact, until he came back into play in the same little pieces. How he survived the volcano-"

"_WHAT?_" I just about yelled.

"Chill, Clockwerk was left to rot in the volcano. Anyway, your Dad thinks it's all cool till the Klaww gang come around and steal the pieces from the Simthsonian. The same one that holds the blueprints that could rebuild the same guy whose followers killed your family." I could only stare and piece it together, Clockwerk equals bad. Very bad. "They are murderers, they even got Jia, if they get their hands on that blueprints..." She trailed off.

"You mentioned hiring me." I brought up after a long time.

"I want to pay you to steal those blueprints and stop that from happening. Simple right?" She began in investigate her nails, apparently bored.

"How much?" I asked.

"How about where those goons are hiding out?" She replied.

I thought it over, steal some blueprints and beat up the guys that took everything away from me.

"Plus a five minute head start?" I quizzed.

"Sure." She replied.

She left, and I planned, plotted, and thought the museums weaknesses were big enough, but I was missing something the whole way through, but I kept myself busy.

The day was here at last. The day I would start taking back my life. I sighed, holding the clothes that I hadn't worn in a week, the ones who held my past present and my future. It was just another heist, the last one for a long time, until I could take my life back from the hands who had snatched it away. I was now sitting on the roof, patiently waiting for the guard to pass by the glass. With expert hands I grasped the glass cutter and revolved the blade around, cutting a hole above the lock. I reached inside and unlocked it, and seeing how I was sitting on the glass, I moved off, and opened it.

"_Twenty seconds until the next guard."_

I hooked my rope on the nearest vent. I pulled hard to see if it would hold, and it did. I jumped down, repelling as I went, and hoping the system I rigged up would work. I touched down on the floor, toes together to avoid the security lasers.

"_Ten seconds."_

I had to find a good hiding spot before I could go any farther though.

"_Nine seconds."_

I leaped up toward a power box on the wall. Using a technique from the Thievius Raccoonus, I pushed myself against the wall as far as I could go.

"_Five seconds."_

I held my breath in fear.

"_Four seconds."_

I recalled seeing an invisibility trick. Why couldn't I remember _that_ one?

"_Three seconds."_

The guards gut was showing in the doorway. Good lord... he was really fat.

"_Two seconds."_

I could see his beam, narrow and bright. If he looked up...

"_Now."_

He was a barrel chested pig, the guard, I tried not to wrinkle my nose in disgust. What, they couldn't hire a competent guard to guard the blueprints of an evil metal bird? I rolled my eyes.

"Wanna go home... doughnuts waitin' there..." He mumbled. I thought I heard a creak from the box I was standing on. I let out a small breath. "I don' get paid 'nough for dis job..." He continued. He was halfway across the room now. I decided to call him Porky.

"_Just a little more Porky..."_

That was when he stopped dead. He just stopped moving without a reason. I paled. If he didn't get out he would find me soon. That was when I noticed the rope was directly above his head, it was even tickling the little hat he wore on his oversized head. I began to pull the rope toward me and it came slowly, but I was beginning to lose space to put the excess rope. I took a deep breath, I hadn't held my breath like that for a long time.

The guard began to move along the corridor again. He was out the door and at least far enough away to continue with my criminal activities. I began to breathe normally again. I leaped from my power box, and it came down with a mighty crash.

"Dammit." I said under my breath.

I tossed the smoke bomb and abandoned all attempts at stealth. I kicked the glass off and grabbed the three copies, letting the glass crash and break on the floor. I began to climb the rope I had brought with me. Unfortunately, Porky had come in... with his gun.

"Seriously?" I yelled. "That's a bit of an overkill!" I complained. Porky just began to shoot at the rope, thankfully he was a terrible aim.

"_Why is it that all my plans end this way?"_

I began to reach the top, and reached for the ledge of the open window, and that's when Porky hit the target. _Me. _The bullet hit me on left side of my stomach. Sure it hurt like hell, but I kept climbing; I the choices were to get arrested, or get out. I preferred the latter choice. I hooked my elbow around the ledge, and began to climb up and over. I closed the window behind me, and began to run while holding my side, I hadn't made the kevlar in my suit thick enough for it to stop the bullet.

"_Damn me and my comfortable thinking."_

The whistle blew, and I was forced to run along the rooftops, walking on the wires and climbing clotheslines. Just when I thought I was safe on a wire, the world blurred and I fell to the ground. I almost cried out from the pain. That was when Ceyla decided to drop by.

Reaching into my bag she said, "Thank you dear, I will need these."

"Why would you..." Then it clicked, it was so simple. "Clock-la." Now it made sense, the metallic feelings, the smashed cane, and her need for the blueprints.

"Too bad you bled out before you could tell me why you stole the blueprints to your most powerful enemy..."

"Why?" I coughed, and the taste of blood came up.

"You look just like your father... when I killed him. A pity your Mother wasn't as surprised... It was like killing spiders. If I had known you were alive, maybe you would've joined them. You're just lucky that I let you live this long." She left me there, and I was drifting in and out of reality, and consciousness.

A scene became clear, a raccoon, my Father, answering the door, the hands of Ceyla grabbing his head and twisting violently, and I cried. My Mother gathered me and my brother Kenji and put Kenji into his closet. She put me into her and Daddy's closet, telling me not to say anything. Mommy didn't come back. Ceyla entered the master bedroom, and pulled off a painting above Daddy's side of the bed. It revealed a safe that she punched out, and pulled the battered old book Dad had shown me several times.

_"It's your future Rei. Never forget it..." _He always said that and put it back.

I came out of the closet, and I saw Mom laying face down on the rug in the living room. I had dragged Dad's cane out with me. I looked around to find Kenji, when the fire alarm went off. Even at that early age I knew that it meant fire, and I needed to get Kenji out of his closet.

"Kenji!" I cried out. "Kenji..." That was where the memory ended. "I'm sorry Dad... I couldn't stop her..." With that I closed my eyes, and I felt someone lift me up and away...

`*`*`Blue auras`*`*`*

Days later

I woke up, and immediately said the most cliched thing, "Am I in heaven? I didn't think in heaven you would hurt this much though..."

"Nope, but it's pretty close." Michel said as he rounded the corner.

"Wha- why? Please don't tell me you're an evil robot too?" I asked.

He felt my forehead. "You lost a lot of blood, but I think you will be fine. What's this about evil robots?"

"Never mind." I muttered.

"She awake?" I heard Bryce say.

"Yeah." Michel said, and he left as suddenly as he came. Bryce came in, and I realized that he had saved me, probably even got help from Michel.

"I'm sorry..." I said with all the sincerity I could muster.

"Nothing to be sorry about, I should have told you. My mother's name was Penelope. She worked with your Father a long time ago. She is the only living member of that group left now." He said.

I sat up, "Let's go get even with their murderer then. Let's- gah!" My stomach felt like it had just been stabbed.

"Oh no, you should stay here until you get better, you won't win with that wound." He said in his 'doctor' tone.

"Fine." I said.

"_I'm going like it or not, my Father and his friends are dead because of this witch. I'm not even going to stop until those blueprints are burned to ashes."_

Bryce left, but I knew he was thinking about a guard until I was healed up. I was going to leave _now_ before Clock-la began her evil plan. I sat up again, feeling the pain, but moving. It wasn't so bad, I kept telling myself.

I opened to window, but Bryce was already behind me. "I knew it." He said. "Where do you think you'll find Clock-la?"

"Somewhere..." I said. I hadn't thought of that.

"All right, let's get going over to her lair. We need to take a plane. Figures you would disobey, thought I would try it though." He said, tossing me a plane ticket.I smiled, he knew I wouldn't wait around. "And before we get there, would you mind taking a shower? You stink." He teased. I smiled. The team was together again, and this time all secrets were out in the open. Nothing would break us apart... but one thing was still bugging me.

"Why are you helping us Michel?" I asked him the day before we left.

"It's not fun if you are dead, so be careful." He answered.

"You too. By the way, you owe me a five second head start." He smiled and told me it was a deal.

With that, we left for our most dangerous mission, and we knew it wasn't like our other missions, it was a run and bomb one, no stealth at all. We were all silent on the plane. Murph was busy drawing, Bryce was busy posting on his blog, and I was just thinking about what I would do when I got there. I even entertained the idea of writing my will here on the plane, but I didn't actually _own _anything so it was out of the question.

When we touched down, there was this air of disbelief that we had gotten so far, learned so much, and that it was almost over. We stole a car and drove on the road -which is speaking highly of it- for what seemed to be minutes, when they were actually hours.

I stood at the front of the volcano and just looked at it. "This is what we've been fearing? A bunch of rocks and a metal bird older than dirt?" I tried to put some pep into my voice, but even I didn't believe it.

We marched inside, it looked like a giant arena with a couple outdated computers hanging from the ceiling by rotted old ropes. At the exit was Ceyla. With a blank look on her... face. Bryce went in front of me and began to punch Ceyla. It was actually pretty funny because he began to hop up and down from the pain.

"I don't think that'll work!" I yelled to him.

Ceyla grabbed him and began to choke him. I gasped, but saw him wave us on, this was _his_ battle, not ours. However, this fight was one he wouldn't win. I raced in and sliced at her arm, inwardly wincing at the pain of my bullet wound. Flinging Bryce at the wall with a nasty crunch, she used the same hand to backhand me into the wall next to Bryce.

"_Nice one..."_

Murph just stood there, and once he reached the decision, he ran out.

"Fat lot of help you are!" I yelled at him.

Ceyla stood there, almost gloating but it was interrupted by the invalidation of my statement by the honk of the car horn. Murph drove in, headlights blazing, and a crazy look on his face. He hit her head on, she fell, and some wires and joints were knocked loose. I slid my knives loose from my belt, ready to take her down.

"Now!" Bryce yelled, as he pulled a fork with electricity humming between the prongs.

We both launched forward, I was hacking at wires, while he shoved the little electric thing into the open joints. Soon, all that remained was a single wire.

"You are too late. Clock-la has risen once more!" She cried, laughing at our wasted time.

I kicked her head, which popped right off. And it was _ticking._

"Really? Every time something just _has _to blow up,stab, or shoot us doesn't it?" I asked the air.

Bryce however, picked it up and hurled it at the door. "Heads up!"

I ducked behind cover as the hot air whooshed by me, I could feel the evil lurking inside the next room, waiting for me to kill it at last. Bryce handed me a bag, and he showed me how to work the jets, but I almost let the information soar over my head. Clock-la was going to be a lot harder than flying up or down, and Bryce knew it. He handed me another comm, and I took it, feeling the comfortable, much missed piece of plastic in my ear once more.

"Just in case..." I said handing him the Thievius Raccoonus, it contained everything I had written down, everything that had happened thus far. It was my backup plan, it even had a letter to Bryce, Murph, and Kenji.

At last I walked into the next room, I felt as though this was a long time coming, like the clash of titans... again. How hard can she be though, my Dad beat her once that's gotta count for something right?

I was utterly and totally wrong.

`*`*`Blueauras`*`*`

I uploaded the _wrong chapter!_ This is the right one, sorry about that! :O


	13. Clockla's dead again

Rei Cooper: Legacy Of Thieves

Chapter 13: Master Thief At Last

As I stepped through the open hole that now served as a door, I knew that this would be the _last_ time a Cooper would step into this volcano, whether I took her down or not. It was open to the sky, allowing me to see the night sky, lit with the faint glow of the lava pocket at the far end of the room. I was in the center of the volcano now.

"Ah... I thought she would have served as a better guard." Rasped a familiar metallic voice.

"Why don't you come on out and we can finish this. I have a show on at eight." I replied trying to remain calm while finding out where the old bird was. Slipping out my knives, I tried to remain calm.

"The Witch's spells won't help you. I was pretty sure that her magic would die with her." She said, touching a nerve.

"_Calm. Remain calm as you face down the giant metal bird. That is "_

"Is that why you shot her? Is that why you ended a life that wasn't a part of this?" I asked, getting angry.

"She was a part of this from the moment she said that she would help you break into General Li's palace. I had no qualms about shooting her, in fact, I was already set up and waiting by the time you left the gas station and said you were a cop. Nice try by the way, but I would have thought that you would have been more careful." She replied, seething with... jealousy?

"You want to be a part of something bigger don't you? You're just a little girl with big weapons. You don't have to be this way, you can-" She snatched me up in one claw, interrupting what I was going to say.

"I AM A GODDESS! I WILL LIVE FOREVER AND MAKE WISH YOU HAD DIED WHEN YOUR PARENTS DID_!"_ She screamed. I had touched a nerve, but unfortunately, it would rip mine out.

"There you are..." I muttered.

I threw my left knife into her eye causing her to reel back and drop me. She screeched at the pain.

Her eye was now sparking and the camera inside was exposed and focused on me, as an added plus, my knife was now stuck inside the socket and couldn't fly back to me.

"_Aw crap. I need to think these things out better."_

I took a defensive stance, but it was to avoid showing that I was terrified. Clock-la flew up into the air, now launching rings of energy at me. Starting the jet pack -with a few nasty sputters- I flew through each one, nearly getting zapped each time, and used my Ninja Spire Jump to land on her wing as it went up and down. I was nearly seasick -or wingsick as the case may be. One foot in front of the other, I walked to her back. She looked over her shoulder, and the eye exposed was the one I had brutally stabbed.

Reaching forward to grab the knife, I saw it wiggle and try to work itself free. My fingers circled the hilt and I pulled it free, but Ceyla did a barrel roll and let me fall toward the pocket of lava I had seen. I pressed the button on the jet pack and it sputtered and came to life. I couldn't do that again, or I'd be crispy raccoon bits. What a delightful pessimism I have.

"Come back here and fight like a… big metal bird!" I yelled. How's _that_ for witty banter?

I groaned inwardly at my bad battle taunt and flew up to meet her. She slashed out with her claws, and I missed most of it, but it clipped a bit of my ear, just enough to give it a bit of a shave. "That was my good ear!" I yelled.

Her claws came down again, and I threw up my knives as protection. They held off her claws valiantly, but I still moved to my right it avoid becoming ribbons. She screeched in fury once again. This time, I threw my knife at her throat, and she tossed her head, sticking the knife deep into rock.

"Well, that was a waste of time and possibly a knife." I said, smiling innocently at her.

She smacked me down to the ground below, and the rocket pack sputtered just enough for me to avoid any major injury, but it did knock the breath out of me. I sat there, defenseless on the ground.

"You cannot defeat me. You will die alone, Rei Cooper." She gloated as she raised a claw to finish me.

I shut my eyes and braced for my death.

"_Let it be quick."_

Kenji stood between us, and held Mom's gun at the ancient, evil, bird. "Not my sister. Not today, tomorrow, and certainly not soon. So die!" He screamed.

The shot hit her, but the electricity buzzed around the metal, and I threw my knife at the weak point. As it connected, it amplified the electricity and went through, making a sizable hole in the side of Clock-la. She screamed at the damage, as though it was the knife's fault that _I_ threw it. I stood, and now knife less, I ran up to Kenji and took Mom's gun from him, aiming at the knife. I missed by a mile.

"There's the reason I didn't go into Interpol." I said, handing the gun back to Kenji.

"Obviously, you can't hit a giant metal bird. It's nice to see you again sis, I missed you." He said, gun trained on Clock-la.

"Where did you come from?" I asked.

"Your luggage." He replied, suddenly intent on his gun.

"I didn't bring any luggage." He began to distract Clock-la before I got an answer.

He kept shooting at the knife and I kept running toward my knife, which was only a few feet to my left. It was stupid, but it was the only one not being used to take her down, so I did the only plausible thing that would work. I ran back toward the screaming Clock-la. She yelled and I launched myself inside the beak, stabbing it with as much gusto as I could muster. She snapped her beak shut, with me inside. The jet pack groaned as it held up the weight of Clock-la's beak, and I knew it would snap at any moment. Sliding my arm through the straps, I pulled myself out of her beak and pressed the button, blasting it farther into her throat.

She opened her mouth wide and I pulled myself out of it. With a sweep of her wing she knocked Kenji down. I ran to where the knife that was stuck in her side and pulled it out. Now armed, I climbed back onto her back and she lifted off, flying in the hope that I could be shaken loose like before.

"Now you see me," I said silently moving forward, preparing to plunge the knife deep into her working eye. "Now you don't!" The knife went deep, and I almost didn't pull it out before she crashed into the wall of the volcano.

Opening my chute, I glided down and managed to land on my feet before the rock cracked up from Clock-la's landing. I hopped from rock to rock as each sunk. The only thing that wasn't perfect was the simple fact that Clock-la's backup system was almost operational.

"Why is there always a backup system? Why can't there ever be just one fight and it is over?" I whined as I hopped from rock to rock.

"Restoring settings and main programming... restoring settings and main programming..." She chimed, her head looking around in different directions. It was twitchy and almost like she was looking for ghosts.

I ran to the bird, trying to end it once and for all. I landed on each rock and everything that was above the lava. At last I reached her, and found exposed wires on the back of her neck. I leaped up and landed there, pulling up an important looking wire and tucking one of my knives into my belt.

"This is for Jia!" I yelled to her.

"Main internet cable disabled." She chimed.

Another wire, a black one this time.

"This is for my parents!" I yelled.

"Left eye feed disabled."

"This is for Murray and Bentley!" I yelled, pulling up a green wire.

"Right eye feed disabled."

"This is for all I've had to suffer because of you!" I said, ready to slice open a giant blue wire that looked like it controlled more than the eyes and internet.

Her head twisted around before I could cut it, and grabbed me so that I was sticking out side ways and flung me against the wall. I hit the far end, and it felt like everything had broken. Blood trickled down my back, and I saw them; the blueprints that I had stolen in the hopes of ending this. The world spun and everything hurt, but I reached for the table. I grabbed the blueprints and tossed them into the lava. This area must have been the only place left that was relatively safe.

"No more..." I said, and watched as Clock-la burned in the lava.

"Rei!" It was Kenji, was he really that far away?

"No Mr. Captain, I want to talk with mommy..." I babbled.

"Rei! Stay with us Rei!" Bryce too? Was I really that far away? No, I could see them, my vision was growing dark. I closed my eyes, and I was no longer there.

"Honey!" Mom yelled, dressed in a simple white gown. She sounded far away.

I walked into the light, and before you can say 'Don't go into the light, isn't that bad', I was in a white train station. As much as I would love to say it was like in Harry Potter, this one was grafittied so much that I sincerely doubted this was anything like it.

Dad was standing there too, dressed in a tacky white suit.

"Am I... dead?" I asked.

"That depends, do you wish to return?" Dad asked.

"I don't know..." I replied.

"How can you not know? Who all are your friends? Do they care for you?" Mom asked.

"Lots of people are waiting for me, but I don't know anymore what's right and wrong. It's just... I'm tired of running away from everything, of stealing and living on the run. I didn't even know I was a part of this big thief clan until now, and... I don't know if it's what I want anymore." I said, looking around, I saw it was a train station. "Is this even real? Or is it all just something to keep my mind busy while I die?"

"You can tell if it's real or not, but it depends on you. Do you want to stay here, leave or ride a train?" Dad asked. Mom was getting on the train. It was white as well, and I was almost blinded when it showed up.

"What happens if I stay here?" I asked.

"You sleep. The world will be different when you wake up though. Such a choice is like many made everyday. Some stay until they must go, but others leave. It's your life honey, and remember that I will be with you, no matter what." He said as he too boarded the train.

I walked away, trying to figure out what I should do. I found a seat and sat down, and something crinkled in my pocket. I pulled it out and it was the letter I had given to Bryce. I had written it on the plane to Clock-la's lair, and gave it to him with the Thievius Raccoonus. I winced as I remembered how sappy it was.

_Dear Bryce and Murph,_

_ I'm sorry about abandoning you two, you were my family and I just left you. I know that Clock-la's not going to be easy to take down. If I'm dead, well... let's get into that later. For now, I'm in a coma. Yes, a coma's a good start. Just know that you two know I want to be there with you guys, but something happened and I can't. I dunno, maybe I got thrown against a wall, but know even if I'm not there in person, I'll be there for you._

_ If I'm dead, I want you to know that the Coopers can't vanish, we have been a way of balance and I want Kenji to have my knives and keep up the appearance of the never-ending immortal Cooper name. Bryce, feel free to raid my room for any technology. Murph, I have some old paint I never used and I want you to have it. Tell Michel that our debt can't be held by me, and to keep on catching bad guys. Touch my safe, and die._

_ I feel all sappy just thinking about it, but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all the __pain I've caused you guys. You were...no, are my family, no matter what, but touch my closet and I will __haunt you from the afterlife._

_ Sorry,_

_ Rei Cooper_

_ Master Thief_

_ P.S: Touch anything not in this letter, and you will be sorry._

I hadn't signed it as 'master thief'. I didn't even feel worthy of the title, I was simply a girl who was raised by an old orphanage caretaker. I couldn't even remember my parents that well. Was I really part of this legacy of thieves? I rubbed my face and cradled it in my hands.

"Ah. The latest in line. You look a bit young to be _here_." Said a voice with a severe Japanese accent.

"Great more hallucinations..." I muttered as a raccoon wearing black wraps on his arms and legs and a blue hooded onesie tied with a black belt in the middle.

"Rioichi Cooper. Glad to meet you at last. I hear much about you and your father from the little scroll." He babbled.

"I'm no thief, just a raccoon who can hit things." I replied, feeling bad to break the news to him like this.

"Ah, I see that you have doubts in your mind." He sat down next to me. "I don't know why I should tell you this, as you already know it, but you are a Cooper. The one and only thief left in the line."

"What about Kenji?" I asked.

"He was raised to be... ah what do you call them?" He snapped his fingers as he searched for the right word, just as I often did. "A person who actually follows the law."

"What time were you from anyway?" I asked, suddenly interested in the fact that he dressed like he was some sort of ninja.

"1500s, what you would call the feudal era for Japan." Twin knives like mine jangled from his belt. "Back to the matter at hand, you Rei Cooper, must go on. Your grandfather put it best; thieves like us are born, not made. Now, I must go." He walked away, into a doorway that was not there earlier.

"No wait..." He shut the white door. "Don't leave me alone... here... wherever 'here' is."

To my left now was a simple vault door, and it had an exit sign above it. The indentation on it was identical to the hook of my cane... er... knife. I placed it in there, both and saw the beginning of a long vault. First thing I saw was a picture from the Thievius Raccoonus, depicting a move that I had always wanted to use. Invisibility. I took a deep breath and entered the vault. It was my only way back to my home, my life. It was the only way back, and I was certain that I wanted to go back. To hell with dying at twenty. Er... maybe not to hell with it, but I wasn't going down this easy. I will be back, and I will be back _soon_.

Just as soon as I freaking made my way through the death maze and wake up.

`*`*`BlueAuras`*`*`

Karyra: But wait, there's a epilogue! Review on this story if you want a sequel! That's right click the little blue button right down below this text. Say your thoughts, good, bad, and meh.

Rei: Suggestions welcome!

Michel: The next chapter mustn't reveal-

Karyra: Stuff like that nasty little-

Michel: Say it and die.

Karyra: Too late.


	14. The End, Sort Of

Rei Cooper: Legacy Of Thieves

Epilogue

Kenji:

Two weeks after coma

Driven mad by the sight of his sister, whom he was supposed to protect from harm, Kenji did his best to drive off the depression with a few heists, but he just didn't understand the fun of stealing from anyone. Bryce gave him a stolen violin and he put it back on the pedestal he stole it from. He was beginning to feel like a failure. And it all led to here, the last place he needed to be. The edge of a rooftop. He was ready, and all it would take to end it was a simple step. He looked at the edge, was he ready?

"Kenji, back away from the ledge." Michel said behind him. He had heard that a raccoon was trying to jump, he had rushed here. "Why would you want to jump?"

"I've failed her... I failed to keep stealing to keep up the appearance of a living Cooper." His foot now dangled over the edge.

"So what? What's worth dying before she even wakes up? You don't have it in you Kenji." He said.

"Why are you called Fox, you aren't related to my mother. I don't recognize you from... that time." Kenji said, still standing on the roof.

Michel was taken aback. He had expected this question, but he hadn't expected it right now. His answer was ready, of course, but wouldn't people hear them? It was a risk he took anyway.

"You're right, I'm not part of your family, but I've always admired your Mother. It's funny how stupid your own name sounds... when you can make a new one for yourself." Michel mused. "My real name is Michel Rechin, I just figured... that maybe I could be someone else, and be respected. I never knew that it would lead to such hard training, after all, it was just a name. However, the fact that Carmelita Fox had caught Sly Cooper had carried more weight than I thought it did. She had even allowed him to apply for Interpol, and _he_ was a great cop too. I thought that maybe people would respect the name and not look too closely. The Rechins were earmarked for treason and insubordination. I wouldn't have made it into Interpol if it wasn't for your Mother, or at least what she did." He finished, feeling the weight of the secret fading.

"Why didn't you tell Rei?" Kenji asked, now sitting on the ledge.

"Because I never saw the need to." He replied.

"I can't stay here, I need to leave..." He said, suddenly standing up and facing the drop below.

"You can get help dealing with this sort of thing." Michel said, he was so close! Why was he trying to jump _now_?

"Will it make Rei wake up?" Kenji mournfully said.

"She will want you there, and you can be there for her... even if it is in an institute. Don't leave her here because her mind is somewhere else." Michel was now behind Kenji, and he offered him his hand.

Kenji just looked at it for a long time, thinking what would happen if he jumped. Would Rei really be mad at him for leaving her alone? He took the hand, and walked back down from the edge.

"I'll keep your secret, but you have to keep mine from Rei." Kenji said.

"Well, while I can't lift the charges of attempted suicide, I can say you were under duress." He said thoughtfully.

"Oh just arrest me and get it over with." Kenji smiled.

Bryce:

One month after coma

He was in the lab. Again. The mousey mechanic had stayed with Rei during the day, as per her letter, and worked on a major project during the night. The caretaker of Happy Campers Orphanage, Mrs. Waizutatoru, walked in, but I think that her true name should be told, as she had been hiding behind her husband's now gone shadow for almost ten years. Her name was Penelope Waizutatoru. Rei had always assumed her dead, or just missing, but the truth was easier, she had been living in an apartment in New York City since the orphanage shut down. She was almost fifty five today.

"Why are you working on Bentley's old project? He turned it off for a reason." She twisted the ring on her finger.

"I know, but if I could just twist the matrix fluctuator and fix it so that the quantum dilator will tune with it..." Bryce murmured. Mrs. Waizutatoru put her hand on the shoulder of her son, silently trying to convince him that it wasn't worth the sleep loss.

"Son..." She started, but was interrupted by a loud snore. She couldn't help but laugh

Bryce had finally fallen asleep. Mrs. Waizutatoru couldn't help but find her son so much like her husband. It was too sad to think about how _she_ had come in and simply knocked Bentley down, with her strength, it was remarkable that she hadn't busted the door down. Bryce's dreams were quite simple and lacked the sadness of his mother's. It was Rei waking up, and telling him that he was stupid to have believed her dead, no matter what. He needed her to wake up.

What he needed was her happy sarcastic attitude. He missed the only other friend he had. These days Murph was busy trying into professional art, both by stealing and making it. Kenji had been committed, but Bryce was never going to stop keeping his promise to Rei. He stole something every night, taking good care to make himself look like the outline of Rei. Bryce always wondered if she could hear him, asking for her to come back. Was she stuck inside her own head? Unable to leave, but unable to come back?

When the next morning rolled around, he began his routine again, entering the room where Rei slept and was cared for. The doctors said it would be good for her to wake up in a safe environment -that and Bryce had threatened to steal all of the other patients blankets and TVs. She looked so peaceful, which was always strange to see, considering she was always thinking up mischievous plots... or getting out of them.

"Please just wake up... if you could just see what happened since-" He stopped himself. "when you fell asleep."

Mrs. Waizutatoru was outside the door,. She felt like she had failed Sly _and_ Rei at the same time, allowing her to get hurt like this. She sighed and left, her son none the wiser to her absence.

"I've got to go now, I'm, planning for something big, but later. I have to get the blueprints for a project and edit it so there won't be foul ups. Maybe you can help when you wake up..." He suddenly left, feeling angry and confused at himself for becoming mad at a vanquished enemy.

He sighed and went back to work, time was the only thing that mattered to him, and the fact the he had so much of it without Rei. He had started this project to try and go back in time and save Rei, but he didn't know that she would only be awake very soon.

But for now, Bryce went to go write to Kenji, he had heard Michel was working on dropping the charges on him and was wondering how he was doing in his new life was going along. Bryce was wondering why Michel had suddenly turned over a new leaf on the Gang. He soon shook his head, disregarding it because he had already asked, and had gotten no answer from Kenji.

Michel:

One month and a week after coma

Arrests were up on criminals, and Michel was the holder of the top arrests in his unit. He was also quite bored, there was the occasional robbery pulled off by Murph and Bryce, but he didn't know about them, and he now sat in his office, thinking about they could have moved Rei. One day there, and the next gone. I mean, how the hell do you move a person in a _coma._ He could use a challenge.

A call came in on his phone, and he answered it.

"Hello?" He said, still bouncing the ball against the wall in his office.

"There have been reports of raccoon sightings in west china. Sir... do you think it's her?" Said the Interpol officer on the other side.

Somehow a grin crept on Michel's face, he ceased his ball bouncing and thought about this for a moment, then, with a slight chuckle, he responded with...

"On my way."


End file.
